America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), which is a consortium of the worst private insurers, is going straight after the Baucus bill by unleashing a report on Monday that says that Baucus's bill will increase insurance premiums, and that health care costs will go up higher under the bill:
The report will drop ahead of a crucial vote on the bill Tuesday in the Finance Committee, and could figure into the discussion there. At the very least, expect to hear a lot more about the report from Republicans, who are looking to slow any kind of momentum for the Democratic health care reform proposals after the Congressional Budget Office's positive analysis last week.
The reasons for AHIP going against the Baucus bill is because the individual mandate was weakened by amendments that lowered the financial penalties for American families, the waiver given to families if insurance premiums were at 8% of a family's income, the plan by Senator Schumer to weaken the individual mandate, and taxes on insurance plans.
There's more below, including the reaction from the White House, on the planned backlash by AHIP:
AHIP chief Karen Ignagni met with White House and Senate Finance officials last week, and she said they were "a ways away from doing an analysis," the official said. "There is a feeling among White House officials that they were misled."
This might be the first rift unfolding in public between an inustry player and the White House and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.). The health care industry has been loathe to litigate the bill in public, fearing a backlash from the White House. The pharmaceutical and hospital industries cut separate deals with the White House and Baucus to mitigate that amount of payment cuts they could face in an overhauled system.
And here's the reaction from the Senate Finance Committee spokesman, Scott Mulhauser:
"This report is pitching some seriously flawed analysis that nobody’s buying, as it excludes all the provisions that will actually lower the cost of coverage – tax credits, grandfathering for existing policies, increased enrollment in private coverage and administrative savings from a more efficient mechanism for purchasing coverage," Mulhauser said.
Now the Washington Post is carrying this story as written by Ceci Connolly:
Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and promote it in new advertisements. That could complicate Democratic hopes for action on the legislation this week.
Administration officials, who spent much of the spring and summer wooing the insurers, questioned the timing and authorship of the report, which was paid for by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), an industry trade group.
And one of the top White House aides, Nancy DeParle, is pointing out parts of the bill that she says will help lower costs:
DeParle and Mulhauser said the study overlooks key elements of the bill, such as a $25 billion reinsurance fund to buffer the industry from heavy losses and a provision that allows consumers to keep the insurance they have with limits on premiums increases.
Enrolling millions of people in a new insurance marketplace known as an exchange, tightening regulations on insurers and providing tax credits to millions of Americans should all lower costs, DeParle said. Contrary to the insurance industry's projections, she said, she expects growth in insurance rates to be slower than anticipated if reform is enacted.
TalkingPointsMemo also has the report released by AHIP right here.
Now Monday should be very interesting with Democrats having to defend the incredibly flawed Baucus bill in face of the backlash from AHIP. What AHIP is looking for is having the individual mandate be strengthened and possibly the removal of the hardship waiver that is capped at 8% of income back to its original cap of 13% of income.