Health Insurance Companies’ Proposals for Health Care Reform
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the health insurance industry trade group, has expressed support for the idea of reforming the health care system. However, in the L.A. Times, Michael Hiltzik warns that insurers may not be as gung-ho about the possibility of universal health care as they present themselves to be.
AHIP recently released a brochure outlining its stands on health care. Some of their proposals include:
- being allowed to offer limited benefit plans among their individual health insurance policies without limits on the premiums insurers are allowed to charge
- a government-run health care option that takes only the “high-risk” patients (with several chronic conditions) private insurers don’t want, which would be very expensive since it prevents the government from spreading risk among a wide population
- a decrease in the fees paid to hospitals and doctors
These proposals are actually quite similar to what the insurance industry has asked for in the past. Michael speculates that insurers seem cooperative now because there is no specific plan for health care reform, but are prepared to fight against specific policies.
