Democrats and reform advocates lash back at insurers

Reactions and Democratic push back are beginning to be evident after the release Monday of an insurance industry-sponsored report (.pdf) that warns premiums could wind up costing $4,000 more by the end of decade if a proposed health overhaul is implemented, the Associated Press reports. The report isn't "worth the paper it's written on," AARP Executive Vice President John Rother said. The retiree's association has supported health reform (Alonso-Zaldivar and Werner, 10/12).

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Potential Impact Of Health Reform On The Cost Of Private Health Insurance Coverage

Meanwhile, "[t]he White House, which had been working with the insurance industry, blasted the report and its timing," USA Today reports. A spokesman called it "a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry" that "comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry's profits" (Jackson, 10/12).

"Finance Committee spokesman Scott Mulhauser called the analysis 'a health insurance company hatchet job -- plain and simple,'" CNN reports. But, "[t]he report raised new questions about the political viability of the 10-year, $829 billion compromise bill drafted under the guidance of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Finance Senate Finance Committee" (10/12).

Why are the insurance companies upset? "Recent efforts in the Senate to weaken the penalties on those individuals who opt out of health insurance would prevent the insurance costs from averaging down," FOX News report. "The insurance industry is counting a huge number of the uninsured -- those aged 18 to 35 -- to be basically forced into buying insurance in order to keep costs down" (Sicuranza, 10/12).