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Guns Guns Guns
Guest
As the nation awaits the Supreme Court ruling on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, let’s take a trip down memory lane on the industry that was the biggest supporter of the now controversial requirement to buy coverage, also known as the “individual mandate.”
The idea was pushed early in the debate by America’s Health Insurance Plans perhaps like no other health care lobby in Washington. AHIP, as it is known, includes the biggest names in health insurance such as UnitedHealth Group; Humana; Aetna and Cigna along with most big Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.
AHIP put out a news release on Nov. 19, 2008 that said: “Health plans today proposed guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions in conjunction with an enforceable individual coverage mandate.”
Here’s a link to that release, complete with lobby CEO Karen Ignagni’s statement touting how “no one should fall through the cracks.”
A few weeks later, the health insurance lobby then offered its comprehensive reform proposal, again reiterating the “enforceable individual coverage mandate.” Here’s that statement, which said the mandate was needed to “achieving universal coverage.”
As the health reform debate intensified in the next two years, AHIP released another key statement, linked here, on Aug. 11, 2009 touting the requirement, bolstering its argument with three different independent polls showing more than 60 percent support among Americans for requiring all Americans to buy coverage.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceja...e-health-insurance-industrys-idea-not-obamas/
The idea was pushed early in the debate by America’s Health Insurance Plans perhaps like no other health care lobby in Washington. AHIP, as it is known, includes the biggest names in health insurance such as UnitedHealth Group; Humana; Aetna and Cigna along with most big Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.
AHIP put out a news release on Nov. 19, 2008 that said: “Health plans today proposed guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions in conjunction with an enforceable individual coverage mandate.”
Here’s a link to that release, complete with lobby CEO Karen Ignagni’s statement touting how “no one should fall through the cracks.”
A few weeks later, the health insurance lobby then offered its comprehensive reform proposal, again reiterating the “enforceable individual coverage mandate.” Here’s that statement, which said the mandate was needed to “achieving universal coverage.”
As the health reform debate intensified in the next two years, AHIP released another key statement, linked here, on Aug. 11, 2009 touting the requirement, bolstering its argument with three different independent polls showing more than 60 percent support among Americans for requiring all Americans to buy coverage.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceja...e-health-insurance-industrys-idea-not-obamas/