As I wrote in a prior post, the controversial report sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans arguing that certain healthcare reforms would raise costs was hyperbolic, but in fairness it did make some valid points. That’s another way of saying that the report was flawed and biased but also partly correct. The problem is arguing that reform will raise costs doesn’t count if you are actively opposing reforms that might actually reduce costs. In other words, you can’t have it both ways — a point Forbes makes quite well.
The real phoniness here is the idea that the HMO lobby AHIP is committed to cutting costs. At the same time that AHIP is saying that health reform will be too expensive for families, it’s asking Congress to keep generously subsidizing HMOs through the Medicare Advantage program. (See “Strange Bedfellows In The Baucus Brawl.”) And it’s asking that Congress not tax so-called Cadillac insurance plans, even though such a tax would likely slow down health inflation.
Some would argue the same is true about the industry’s opposition to a public plan and, of course, single-payer healthcare.
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