Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance Empire Strikes Back, Pt.2 – Beyond the pale.

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Chris Frates, of Politico was hot on the story and posted an excellent article on http://dyn.politico.com yesterday concerning AHIP’s monumental health insurance undertaking In the article, Chris employed superb journalism with his approach of presenting the ‘climate, along with the weather’. The climate here is that, even though this is labeled a ‘listening tour’, there is also “an intense recruitment effort aimed at signing up Americans who are satisfied with their private insurance coverage,” as Chris explains. The campaign launch is spearheaded by Karen Ignagni, who is the President and CEO of AHIP. The first ‘listening tour’ session occurred yesterday in Columbus, OH and included some of those who have no health insurance. The format is to be that of a discussion group, where the insurance industry can better understand the needs of their, ‘would-be’ new private health insurance customers.

The people at AHIP tell us that “according to Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on the Uninsured estimates based on U.S. Census Bureau March 2006 and 2007 Current Population Survey data, slightly more than 1.2 million Ohioans are without health insurance.” That would be about 11% of that state's population. Michael Tuffin, a spokesperson for AHIP, explains: “On an issue as big and far-reaching as health care reform, you need to be working with real people and you need to have a reach outside the Beltway.” AHIP well understands that the health insurance/care is so large now, that “The American people are going to have their say,” Mr. Tuffin tells us. The issue cannot be settled from ‘inside the beltway’ (of DC, of course).

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