Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied its lobbying and grassroots resources so successfully in the early stages of the healthcare overhaul deliberations that it is poised to reap a financial windfall. The half-dozen leading overhaul proposals circulating in Congress would require all citizens to have health insurance, which would guarantee insurers tens of millions of new customers.
The health insurance industry is sending thousands of its employees to town-hall meetings and other forums during Congress's August recess to try to counter a tide of criticism directed at the insurers. Among the throngs of Americans crowding the sessions, the industry employees come armed with talking points about the need for bipartisan legislation and the unintended consequences of a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers. A "Town Hall Tips" memo written by America's Health Insurance Plans warns people attending the meetings to expect harsh criticism directed at health plan employees and asks employees to remain calm and not yell at members of Congress.
Senate Democrats said they were fleshing out plans to pass health legislation, particularly the option of a new government-run insurance program, with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes that would ordinarily be needed to overcome a filibuster. After consulting experts in Senate rules and procedure, the Democrats said they were increasingly confident that they could create a public plan in a way that would withstand challenges expected from Republicans.
Between 2000 and 2009, the cost of a family premium provided by an employer increased 95.2% while median income went up just 17.5%, according to a new report by Families USA, a Washington nonprofit group that advocates for affordable healthcare. To make matters more galling, workers get fewer benefits plus higher deductibles and copays for the extra money. The organization blamed the higher prices on the rising cost and increased use of medical treatments, inadequate oversight of insurance companies, lack of competition among insurers in many markets, and cost-shifting from the growing numbers of uninsured to the insured.
Senate healthcare negotiators agreed late Thursday to ignore the increasingly strident rhetoric from Republican and Democratic leaders and to keep working toward a bill that can win broad support from the rank-and-file in both parties, according to sources familiar with the talks. In a conference call, the three Democratic and three Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee agreed to redouble their efforts to craft a less costly alternative to the trillion-dollar initiatives so far put forward in Congress. They discussed the possibility of also reining in the scope of their package, the sources said.
As President Obama sought to reframe the healthcare debate as "a core ethical and moral obligation," he implored a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans. "I know there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate, and there are some folks out there who are frankly bearing false witness," Obama told a multidenominational group of pastors, rabbis, and other religious leaders who support his goal to remake the nation's healthcare system.