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November 10, 2002 at 07:00 PM
Health Insurers Hope For Move On Responsible Health Care Agenda
By
Washington
Donald Young, president of the Health Insurance Association of America, says he hopes the change in the Senate, as well as the expanded Republican margin in the House, will allow President Bush to move forward with a “responsible” health care agenda.
The administration, Young says, should advance proposals to establish tax incentives that help low income and middle income people buy health insurance, as well as new measures to encourage the purchase of long-term care insurance.
Young says he hopes President Bush and the new Congressional leadership will oppose costly new mandates and expensive regulations.
Joel Wood, senior vice president of government affairs for the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, adds that one controversial measure, a Patients Bill of Rights, would probably be considered dead right now but for declarations from the White House that it wants to see some HMO reforms enacted.
However, Wood notes, the reforms backed by the White House are far different from those supported by Democratic leaders such as Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Still, Wood says, the change in the Senate means there probably will be less pressure to create new mandates and more efforts to establish incentives for the purchase of private insurance coverage.
But given the close margins in the Senate, Wood says, he does not expect to see sweeping changes.
The 2002 midterm election represents an “overwhelming rejection” of personal injury lawyers, according to Karen Ignagni, president of the American Association of Health Plans, Washington.
In seven of the nine most competitive Senate races last week, she says, the candidate receiving funding from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America lost, Ignagni says.
“No matter how much money personal injury lawyers spend to elect lawsuit-friendly candidates, voters consistently reject the litigation lottery agenda,” she says.
“The sue first, ask questions later blame game that personal injury lawyers pursue evidently fails to resonate with voters,” Ignagni says.
