Ahip

Insurers Laying the Groundwork to Remove Consumer Protections if Mandate in Obamacare Is Tossed

Wendell Potter | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Congress, Obamacare, Ahip, Mitt Romney, Health Care Reform, Individual Mandate, Health Care, Barack Obama, Politics News

The worst-case scenario for insurers is if the high court strikes down the provision of the law requiring us to buy coverage (the so-called individual mandate), but allows the law's important consumer protections to go forward.

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Health Insurer CEOs' Big Paychecks Are Latest Target of Outraged Shareholders

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Senator Evan Bayh, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Juan Figueroa, Cigna, Health Care, Susan Bayh, Citigroup, Wellpoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citigroup Shareholders Meeting, Business News

During all of my years of helping plan Cigna shareholder meetings, we had an unblemished string of non-events. Relatively few of the big-profit insurers have had to cope with contentious shareholder meetings. Those days are over.

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Spin and Deception in the D.C. Subway

Wendell Potter | Posted 05.01.2012

Read More: Congress, Obamacare, Pwc, Ahip, Rick Berman, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Washington DC, Politics News

If you've been on the Metro in recent days, you might have seen an ad designed to make you feel sorry for our poor health insurance companies. So sorry that you'll call your congressman and demand he support a bill that would gut an important part of the health care reform law.

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Why Health Insurers Are Counting on the Supreme Court to Uphold ObamaCare

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Supreme Court, Obamacare, Ahip, Obamacare Supreme Court, Affordable Care Act, Cigna, Aetna, Health Care Supreme Court, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Obama Health Care Reform, Politics News

If there is a group of people more anxious about how the Supreme Court will rule on the health care reform law than President Obama and the millions of Americans who are already benefiting from it, it is health insurance executives.

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Even the Catholic Bishops Should Bless This Health Insurance Mandate

Wendell Potter | Posted 04.14.2012

Read More: Ahip, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Health Insurance, Health Care, Health Insurance Reform, Catholic Bishops Health Care, Health Insurance Clear Summary, Health Care Clear Summary, Politics News

While the media was obsessing about the contraceptives controversy, the Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a final rule that even the Catholic bishops should support.

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The High Cost of Allowing Health Insurers to Continue Keeping Us in the Dark

Wendell Potter | Posted 03.27.2012

Read More: Affordable Care Act, Unitedhealth, Obamacare, America's Health Insurance Plans, Wellpoint, Ahip, State of the Union 2012, Obama Health Care, Health Care, Politics News

It might possibly cost the insurance industry $382 million to comply with the Affordable Care Act for the first two years. But the cost of allowing those companies to continue keeping consumers in the dark would be far, far higher, Mr. President.

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Using PR Playbook to Keep Us in the Dark About Health Insurance Coverage

Wendell Potter | Posted 02.04.2012

Read More: Grocery Manufacturers Association, Obamacare, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Health Care, America's Health Insurance Plans, Wall Street Journal, Kaiser Family Foundation, Politics News

If you wonder why the health insurance industry has to set up front groups and secretly funnel cash to industry-funded coalitions to influence public policy, take a look at the most recent results of the Kaiser Family Foundation's monthly Health Tracking Poll.

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Recycling a Front Group to Cheat Us Out of Benefits

Wendell Potter | Posted 01.10.2012

Read More: Ogilvy, John McCain, Obamacare, Nfib, Nancy Pelosi, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Affordable Care Act, Chamber of Commerce, Health Care, Ted Kennedy, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Politics News

The insurance industry last month brought the Health Benefits Coalition out of storage. It is now the Essential Health Benefits Coalition, and its goal is to allow insurers and employers to continue selling policies that are swelling the ranks of the underinsured.

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Insurers Pressuring Obama to Defy Law So They Can Continue Keeping You in the Dark

Wendell Potter | Posted 12.31.2011

Read More: Consumers Union, Unitedhealth, Obamacare, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Chamber of Commerce, Cigna, Healthcare Reform, Aetna, Health Care, Humana, Consumer Reports, Wellpoint, Politics News

If you have no idea what you're paying good money for when you enroll in a health insurance plan, there's a good reason for that: insurers profit from your ignorance. And they're waging an intense behind-the-scenes campaign to keep you in the dark.

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"Occupy Wall Street" Should Protest the Wall Street Takeover of Health Care At Insurers' Big Lobbying Group

Wendell Potter | Posted 12.10.2011

Read More: Health Care Reform, Health Care for America Now, Health Insurance, Hcan, Obamacare, Health Care, Occupy Wall Street, Ahip, Politics News

The lobbyists for U.S. health insurers surely have to be feeling a little uneasy knowing that thousands of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators who have been marching and protesting might target them in the days ahead.

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Health Insurers to Consumers: Want to Know What You're Buying Before You Buy It? Only If You Pay for It

Wendell Potter | Posted 10.22.2011

Read More: Congress, Jay Rockefeller, Kathleen Sebelius, Obamacare, Health Insurers, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Karen Pollitz, Politics News

Complying with the new disclosure requirement will mean that insurers will have to spend some money they've never been willing to spend before to provide us with the information we need and in language we can understand.

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Insurers' Bait and Switch

Wendell Potter | Posted 08.30.2011

Read More: California, Unitedhealth, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Anthem Blue Cross, Cigna, Hmos, Kaiser Permanente, Health Care, Blue Cross Blue Shield, John Garamendi, Wellpoint, Business News

The health insurance industry's long-term strategy is to move all Americans into high-deductible plans, and they're well on their way to achieving that goal. Once there, you can bet the rates will be hiked up.

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The Insurance Industry's Scheme to Circumvent Reform and Make You Pay More Than Ever for Health Care

Wendell Potter | Posted 08.28.2011

Read More: Commonwealth Fund, Rand Corporation, Ahip, Health Insurers, Health Care Reform, Karen Ignagni, Hmos, Gao, Business News

If the health insurance industry gets its way, not only will it be able to gut important provisions of the health care reform law, it will put all of us in a forced march into inadequate plans, and, at the same time, into the swelling ranks of the underinsured.

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Insurers to Obama: Transparency Is Essential -- For Everybody But Us

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.23.2011

Read More: Uninsured, Obamacare, Kathleen Sebelius, Tennessee, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Karen Ignagni, Health Care, Medical-Loss Ratio, Mlr, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Politics News

The reaction of health insurers to the Obama administration's requirement that they start justifying rate increases of 10 percent or more was quick and predictable: "Not fair!"

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Insurance Industry Flack Screws Up, Points Us to Report We Really Should Read

Wendell Potter | Posted 07.19.2011

Read More: Health Care for America Now, Hcan, Public Relations, Ahip, Health Insurance, Single Payer, Hmos, America's Health Insurance Plans, Health Care, Business News

Successful flacks know how to use a variety of public relations tricks to obscure the truth -- being selective in the disclosure of information, for instance, or using statistics in misleading ways. But sometimes that can backfire.

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The Truth About Health Insurance Company Profits: They're Excessive

Ethan Rome | Posted 07.18.2011

Read More: Health Care for America Now, Profits, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, America's Health Insurance Plans, Health Care Repeal, Republicans, Politics, politicsAffordable Care Act, Business News

Following astonishingly high first-quarter profit reports from health insurance companies, that industry's trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans, now claims it is among the least profitable health care industries.

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The Front Group Hall of Shame Gets a New Inductee

Wendell Potter | Posted 06.11.2011

Read More: Congress, Smoking, Freedomworks, Michael Moore, Ahip, Wwwsourcewatchorg, Sicko, Porter-Novelli, Apco Worldwide, Business News

The creation of the Choice and Competition Coalition is coming straight from the corporate lobbyist playbook. And it undoubtedly will have some big money behind it.

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Pay Much Attention to the Insurers Behind Paul Ryan's Curtain

Wendell Potter | Posted 06.07.2011

Democrats who think Ryan has guaranteed the GOP's demise by proposing to shred Medicare will soon be rudely disabused of that notion. Insurers have shown time and again they can persuade Americans to act against their best interests.

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Reframing the Debate to Make Insurers Look Poor

Wendell Potter | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Rj-Reynolds, Uninsured, Unitedhealth, Wall Street, Obamacare, Ahip, Forbes Magazine, Sally-Pipes, Health Insurance, Cigna, Aetna, Health Reform, Humana, Barack Obama, Wellpoint, Business News

The next time you hear the health insurance industry complain about its "measly" profit margins, don't buy it. Their "reframing" is nothing more than an attempt to take your mind off the tragedies they cause for so many Americans.

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The Insurers' Real Agenda for Change

Wendell Potter | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Trial Lawyers, Unitedhealth, Ahip, Health Care Reform, Cigna, Aetna, Humana, Health Care, Wellpoint, Health Care Funding, Health Care Lobbying, Business News

The media had lots of health care news to obsess about last week. But most of the press paid no attention to a multi-pronged effort by five major insurers to strip key regulations and consumer protections that aren't to their liking.

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Private Insurance Stays Silent, 'Neutral' On Health Care Repeal

HuffingtonPost.com | Sam Stein | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Insurance Industry, Private Insurance Silent, Insurance, Ahip, Health Insurance, Ahip Repeal, Private Insurance, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Republicans Health Care Repeal, Health Care Reform, Health Care Repeal, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- After Republican leadership failed to pass repeal legislation in the Senate on Wednesday night, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commi...

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I'm Not Entirely Sure Politico Understands How Lobbying Works

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Lobbying, Media Criticism, Lobbyists, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Health Care Reform, Eat the Press, Ahip, Health Care Repeal, Media News

Apparently, the "health care industry's biggest trade groups" are "uncharacteristically neutral on the Republican effort to repeal the health care reform law"! Neutral? Surely we are straining the definition of that word.

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The Ghosts Of Health Care Deals Past

HuffingtonPost.com | Amanda Terkel | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Ahip Health Care, Drug Industry, PhRMA Lobby, Health Care Deals, Obama Health Care, Pharmaceutical Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Obamacare, Obama Drug Industry, Phrma, Billy Tauzin, Obama Billy Tauzin, Ahip, Health Care Reform, American Medical Association, Health Care, Healthcare, American Hospital Association, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- The deals that the White House cut with major industries during the health care debate are threatening to come back to haunt the adminis...

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About the Foreign Cash in the Chamber's Campaign Stash

Karl Frisch | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Tea Party Movement, Acorn, Campaign Finance Reform, 2010 Elections, Made in America, Ahip, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Health Care Reform, Fox News, Chamber of Commerce, Citizens United, Democratic Party, Tea Party, US Chamber of Commerce, Republican Party, Campaign Finance, Elections 2010, Politics News

Imagine for a moment if a group like the right-wing reviled though now defunct community group ACORN had been caught receiving money from Middle Eastern corporations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

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Insurance Companies Abandon Sick Children And Lie About It - Mike Huckabee Says That's OK

Ethan Rome | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Karen Ignani, Mike Huckabee, Ahip, Sarah Palin, Health Care Reform, Christine O'donnell, Insurance Companies, Health Care for America Now, Health Care, Pre-Existing-Condition, Wellpoint, Health Insurance Reform, Politics News

The latest announcement by the insurance companies that they won't cover kids is immoral, and to blame their appalling behavior on the new law is patently dishonest.

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