AHIP president Karen Ignagni says her group’s new report criticizing the Baucus health care bill is “very consistent” with the insurance industry’s support for reform.
On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Igagni said the report was part of that supportive effort and did not suggest a shift in rhetoric on reform on the part of the nation’s health insurers. She said the industry supports reform that “levels out” what she called “the cost curve” of health care — reforms that Ignangi said include insuring everyone.
“We’ve said from the beginning that members of Congress need to take on the cost curve,” she told reporters. “We’ve been nothing but consistent about those points.”
Ignangi said AHIP “on board” the parts of the Baucus bill she said the industry already agreed to support.
“We are ready to take on administrative simplification,” she said. “We’ve stood by our promise on that, we stand by our commitment, it’s in the [Baucus bill] and we support it.”
“We need to bend the cost curve,” she said. “That goal, because of political concerns, has been put on the back burner.”
