Big Insurance Funds Efforts To Stop Healthcare Reform
Our Atlanta attorneys frequently receive calls from Georgia citizens seeking help when a large health insurance company denies benefits for a procedure or test their doctor has ordered. Many times these decisions are made by nonqualified employees of the insurer who have never even seen the patient. Doctors routinely complain about this second guessing by health insurance companies.
Healthcare reform is a controversial topic today. In almost all of the proposed bills the actions of these large health insurers in second guessing doctors will be curtailed. So, it is not surprising that on Wednesday the nation's biggest health insurers acknowledged funding TV ads designed to kill or water down the health-care overhaul measure.
This admission came after a published report said the spots were paid for in secret to avoid a public-relations fiasco.
The trade group America's Health Insurance Plans said it put up funds at the behest of its members. AHIP represents the nation's largest insurers, including Aetna Inc. Cigna Corp, Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Wellpoint Inc. AHIP acknowledged paying for the ads after a story appeared in the National Journal's online editions late Tuesday.
Citing health-care lobbyists, the National Journal said each insurer secretly put up at least $1 million and that the organization as a whole contributed $10 million to $20 million dating back to last summer.
The Journal reported that AHIP solicited the funds and funneled them to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to underwrite the ads. Two business coalitions set up and subsidized by the chamber were responsible for the ad, the story said. AHIP started funding the ads last summer as the industry came under fire from lawmakers and the Obama administration over high profit growth and abuses.
AHIP did not fund the entire effort, the story indicates, as the chamber spent $70 million to $100 million on the ads.
