Washington Post:
After months of collaboration on President Obama's attempt to overhaul the nation's health-care system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort on Monday with a report warning that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected.
The critique, coming one day before a critical Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration. It also signaled an end to the fragile detente between two central players in this year's health-care reform drama.
Industry officials said they intend to circulate the report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Capitol Hill and promote it in new advertisements. That could complicate Democratic hopes for action on the legislation this week.
Administration officials, who spent much of the spring and summer wooing the insurers, questioned the timing and authorship of the report, which was paid for by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), an industry trade group.
The White House was quick to respond. "Those guys specialize in tax shelters," said Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform. "Clearly this is not their area of expertise." They also released a number of talking points shooting down the study's methodology, data, and arguments.
"This is a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform," the memo reads. "It comes on the eve of a vote that will reduce the industry’s profits. It is hard to take it seriously." Others were just as quick to respond.
"It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple," said Scott Mulhauser, a spokesperson for Sen. Max Baucus. Baucus chairs the committee set to vote on the legislation.
While Republicans welcomed the news, some have urged caution in using the study to push their obstructionist agenda.
Talking Points Memo:
Spokesman Kurt Bardella of Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) office told TPMDC that Republicans are sure to use the report as justification for opposing the plan. But he cautioned the minority party must "strike the right balance" between the report showing premiums would rise and "trying to avoid the perception they are doing the insurance industry's bidding."
"Any Republican that uses the report should double-check to see how much money they've received from the industry as that'll be a very easy rebuttal for Dems to hit back," Bardella said.
He views the report as "ample ammunition" for critics of the health care bill and said that it can be used by Republicans as I-told-you-so proof once a bill passes if premiums do rise over the next decade.
That last point is kind of a gimme; of course premiums will rise -- it's called inflation and it's inevitable. The cost of corn flakes is going to go up too. The question is whether insurance premiums go up faster than the rate of inflation, as AHIP and the GOP argue, or whether they go up at a rate slower than the rate of inflation, as the White House, Democrats, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates. If the latter is true, then -- in real, constant dollars -- premiums will be going down. Citing a rise in premiums, while not comparing that rise to inflation, would be extremely dishonest.
But can any Republican (or intransigent Blue Dog) use this study without being exposed as an industry shill? Probably not. Anyone likely to oppose healthcare reform is going to get a lot of money from the insurance industry; that's just a fact. Whether this is cause or effect is debatable -- does Senator X oppose reform because he gets insurance lobby money or does he get insurance lobby money because he opposes reform?
Still, any elected official holding up this study as "proof" that reform is a bad idea will probably be holding it with tongs, at a distance. Look for pundits and flacks to make the argument the most often. For Democrats, this study is fuel for arguments that the insurance industry is trying to sink reform.
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