Click here for an interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal suggesting there’s a rift among health insurers over reform — with some wanting to “go negative” and others wanting to support the reform effort. Not surprisingly, the Journal suggests, business interests are behind the divergent views:
Ron Williams, Aetna Inc.’s chief executive, has been working with the White House and Senate Finance Committee in an attempt to mend a rift between insurers and Democrats sparked by an industry-funded study critical of the measure. But the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association continued to step up the rhetoric against the legislation by releasing its own study Wednesday critical of the bill.
The split in the industry shows how varied the interests of insurers are. Mr. Williams’s company, which largely administers health benefits for large corporations, has less to lose in an overhaul than insurers who sell policies to individuals and small employers, as many Blue Cross plans do. That area of the insurance market is the one that will likely face significant new restrictions on the way insurers can price policies, restrict coverage and compete with other plans.
Subscribe in RSS Reader
