Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Health Insurance Empire Strikes Back, Pt.5 – The nuts and bolts, assembled.

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The grass-roots activity will be headed by Beth Leonard. She is well-versed in grass-roots level work and was once, in fact, the state director of New Hampshire for the recent presidential campaign of John Edwards. She is now hired by the AHIP to reach people where they are for these sessions. The effort doesn’t stop there. A large media presence is planned aimed at health insurance opinion. These media will include advertising via "e-mail and snail mail outreach, as well as print, radio and television,” explains Mr. Frates. Next week, ‘inside the Beltway’ newspaper ads will start storming the readers and vying for health insurance opinions. The internet will be a major player, with blogging, on-line adds and a feature website called www.americanhealthsolution.org. These features are expected to be permanent fixtures in this debate for the ‘best’ health insurance/card reform.

Although not disclosed, Mr. Tuffin submits that this is “it’s the most expensive campaign the health insurance industry has launched in the past decade.” It is said that the outreach and grass roots spending will be “unprecedented”. Resources will be allocated, Mr. Tuffin announces, for what ever it takes to reach the people and to hear from them. AHIP believes that allowing customers and perspective customers to be heard completes a three-way union of: employer, insurer and consumer. This lobbying initiative is already evolving ‘inside the Beltway’, Mr. Tuffin informs us. Phil Blando., a Republican health care strategist explains “What you’re seeing is the alignment of the key constituencies for building and strengthening the employer-based [health insurance] system.”

All this planning is nothing new. For the last two years, the industry has been laying the foundations. AHIP has been trying to build this outreach for the health insurance industry to raise the quality and safety of health care while lowering the cost. Their hopes are to cover the 47 million uninsured through universal coverage that is strengthened by a partnership between the private and public plans. They would like to see an expansion of “access to Medicaid and the state Children’s Health Insurance Program;” Mr. Frates’ article explains. They are in favor of tax credits for families to purchase private health insurance plans. They also favor the enhancements of tax-free HSA’s and other methods of making health insurance more portable. As far as ‘high-risk’ enrollees that are now being denied, the industry wants the various states to provide their coverage. If they will, the industry is willing to cover the rest. The industry would then, also agree to “allow consumers to appeal denied coverage through an independent review board.