Posted on 10/12/2009 1:02:30 PM PDT by EagleUSA
The White House fired back Monday at the health insurance industry for issuing a study that claims the health care reform bill working its way toward a key vote Tuesday will raise the cost of individual coverage by hundreds of dollars a year.
Linda Douglass, spokeswoman with the Office of Health Reform, said in a statement that the timing of the study, released just hours before the Senate Finance Committee is set to vote on its bill, raises questions about its legitimacy. She joined other Democratic officials in trying to keep the analysis from gaining traction.
"This is a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform," she said. "It comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry's profits. It is hard to take it seriously."
But America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry group that sent its member companies the new study late Sunday, stood by the findings.
Spokesman Robert Zirkelbach rejected the suggestion that the study was timed for maximum impact, saying it responded to changes made to the bill over the last few weeks and was only finalized over the weekend. He said AHIP still supports health care reform, but wants to see additional changes made, either in the Finance Committee or later in the process.
"This data is an important part of the health care reform discussion. American people want to know how these provisions are going to impact the cost of health care coverage," he said.
The accounting firm study projects the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions in the bill would be in effect.
Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more ....
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Yep.
“It comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry’s profits” should read, “on the eve of a vote that will be a major step in rendering the industry obsolete.”
There is certain beauty to this report by the Health Insurance companies. The cost of health insurance will go up. It always has. As the cost goes up, the health insurance companies will have someone to blame it and a document to point to and say, “we told you so.”
I believe those who are in the buisness more than those who claim they can do much more for everyone for much less! When you already have the example of Medicare and Medicaid what more do you need to figure out that this is a really really bad idea?
They had Price-Waterhouse do the research.
plus add thousands to unemployment
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