The Insurance Industry's Deceptive Report

(Blog Post) In the hallowed tradition of the tobacco and energy industries, the health insurance industry has commissioned a report (pdf) projecting doom and despair for those who seek to reform its business practices. The report was farmed out to the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has something of a history with this sort of thing: In the early-'90s, the tobacco industry commissioned PWC to estimate the economic devastation that would result from a tax on ... Full Story »

Posted by Derek Hawkins - via NewsRack (Health Care), Memeorandum
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Topics: Health Care, Taxes, Money
Member Tags: health care reform, Insurance industry
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Posted by: Posted by Derek Hawkins - Oct 12, 2009 - 9:48 AM PDT
Content Type: Blog Post
Edit Lock: This story can be edited
Edited by: Derek Hawkins - Oct 12, 2009 - 9:49 AM PDT
Derek Hawkins
3.9
by Derek Hawkins - Oct. 12, 2009

Short but hard hitting. Klein at his sharpest, pointing out likely hypocrisy of today's PWC report.

Klein is right. For all the buzz about the the health insurance industry's 11th hour hit, vetting it almost gives it more legitimacy than it's worth.

All that makes it a bit hard to respond to this analysis. Seriously engaging with its methodology probably gives it more credit than it deserves, making this seem like an ... More »

See Full Review » (13 answers)
Joel Kulenkamp
4.7
by Joel Kulenkamp - Oct. 12, 2009

I love how this gives a point-by-point rebuttal of the insurance industry's barrage.

In the hallowed tradition of the tobacco and energy industries, the health insurance industry has commissioned a report (pdf) projecting doom and despair for those who seek ... More »

See Full Review » (12 answers)
Lynn R. Willis
4.8
by Lynn R. Willis - Oct. 13, 2009

This piece is altogether superbly written. The author skillfully dissects, explains and debunks some of the mumbo-jumbo that appears in the Price-Waterhouse report. What's particularly interesting and entertaining in this piece is the historical reference to PW's track record with the tobacco industry.

That this report projects "doom and despair" if folks like us mess with the way the health insurance industry does business isn't surprising. Neither is it surprising that someone with a little savvy (e.g., the author of this article), a little knowledge of history, and a few facts can so easily neutralize this report. Email this report to your congressional representatives. Then ask how they're coming with the public option...

See Full Review » (19 answers)
Fred Gatlin
3.9
by Fred Gatlin - Oct. 15, 2009

This is an interesting and informative commentary. It compares the insurance industry report to a yearly tax on tobacco report from the same source. The commentary also viewed the report and found more facts that this report was not fair.

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Dwight Rousu
4.3
by Dwight Rousu - Oct. 13, 2009

Klein provides good qualitative evaluation of the industry report, and incorporates some history of Pricewaterhouse methods from earlier tobacco tax proposals. He argues that quantitative analysis takes the report too seriously, because it is largely based upon false premises.

That may raise prices, in much the way that antibiotics cost more than herbal supplements, but it raises prices because it reduces the insurance industry’s ability to ... More »

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Jack Dinkmeyer
4.1
by Jack Dinkmeyer - Oct. 15, 2009

This intelligent opinion piece is a thoughtful rebuttal, point by point, of the health insurance industry’s latest "report" describing the ghastly fate awaiting us should congress actually do something meaningful about healthcare. Interestingly, one example the author uses was the Phillip Morris' hyperbole distortion campaign against Clinton’s healthcare plan back when conservatives were also up in arms because Clinton dared steal their birthright to reign in perpetuity.

Déjà vu all over again: same right wing playbook, same right wing distortions, same right wing issues, but with a different cast of characters.

See Full Review » (19 answers)
Manfred Ostrowski
4.2
by Manfred Ostrowski - Oct. 13, 2009

Ezra Klein offers a committed and frank contribution to the current health care debate. His article probably requires some forehand knowledge regarding the issues discussed and has to be seen in the context of the earlier Washington Post articles about health care reform.

The article is quite meaningful, and one gets a good glimpse of the political conflict between liberal reformers and the insurance industry.

Insurers will no longer have the freedom to offer products that let an individual think his family is protected when the policy will do nothing of the sort. That may raise ... More »

See Full Review » (7 answers)
Jim Lang
3.9
by Jim Lang - Oct. 13, 2009

This piece identifies in a readable fashion some of the "simplifications" in the PWCoopers analysis that tend to paint an unrealistically bleak picture concerning health care reform. While it is informative, this piece makes a few over simplifications of its own, e.g., by implying that cost shifing never occurs.

See Full Review » (11 answers)

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  • Is the Insurance Industry Declaring War?

    Over the weekend, America's Health Insurance Plans circulated a study it commissioned from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. In a memo to AHIP members, reproduced here, president Karen ...
    Posted by Derek Hawkins
  • The Empire Strikes Back

    AHIP, the insurance industry trade group, has apparently decided to hop off the healthcare reform bandwagon. After months of claiming that they were on board, they released a ...
    Posted by Derek Hawkins