America's Health Insurance Plans launches campaign in Ohio for nationwide universal health

America's Health Insurance Plans on Tuesday launched a new grassroots campaign designed "to build support for workable health care reform based on core principles shared by the American people: coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability," the organization said, CQ HealthBeat reports.

The nationwide "Campaign for an American Solution" began with a public meeting in Columbus, Ohio, between uninsured residents and AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni. "It was very important to get out of Washington to hear what rank-and-file people are saying," Ignagni said.

According to a release, AHIP's plan includes expanding Medicaid to all low-income, uninsured U.S. residents; expanding SCHIP to all children in low-income and uninsured families, and issuing tax credits for working families based on a sliding scale. "People are looking for a blend of the best public and private strategies," Ignagni said, adding that AHIP will be a "major contributing force" to a health care overhaul (Parnass, CQ HealthBeat, 7/22).

AHIP Executive Vice President Mike Tuffin said that the health care proposals from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) are "talking about areas where there's lots of room for consensus, like prevention, management of chronic conditions and making expansion of coverage a top priority."

AHIP is planning events and television advertisements throughout the U.S.; the group has not said how much they're spending on the campaign.

Opposition

Health Care for America Now, a coalition funded by unions and activist groups, held a protest outside AHIP's Tuesday meeting (Eaton, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 7/22). The group said in a release, "AHIP will try, against all the facts, to convince us that we are happy and well served by the private insurance. The reality is, we're not." Richard Kirsch, HCAN's national campaign manager, in a release said, "Americans know that the last people we can trust to fix the health care mess are insurance companies."

Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) in a statement on Tuesday said, "I hope it is true that these companies intend to be a positive force in health reform efforts, but I tend to be cautious when the fox starts drawing up plans for a new henhouse" (CQ HealthBeat, 7/22).