In the thick of the health reform debate, health plans say they support covering pre-existing conditions as long as there is a mandate that everyone be covered.
Typically, adding more healthy individuals into the insurance pool can help health plans absorb the cost of sicker individuals with the premiums of the healthy.
Even as Democrats and the Obama administration are promoting a public health option "to keep the private insurance industry honest," health plans launched a new national television advertising campaign Monday in support of bipartisan healthcare reform.
The first ad from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) calls for fixing healthcare to make sure all Americans have the health and financial security that health insurance provides.
“Illness doesn’t care where you live ... or if you’re already sick ... or if you lose your job. Your health insurance shouldn’t, either,” the ad says.
The ad highlights key policy reforms that health plans have proposed, including new market rules and consumer protections to achieve universal coverage, guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions, discontinue rating based on health status or gender and ensure continuity of care and portability of coverage.
"If everyone’s covered, we can make healthcare as affordable as possible. And the words ‘pre-existing condition’ become a thing of the past,” the ad says.
AHIP leaders say the ad addresses issues that were raised during the nationwide listening tour they conducted last year.
“One year ago, we began a conversation with the American people," said AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni. "Health plans have stepped up and responded to what we heard across the country. Last December, we proposed reforms that would cover all Americans, guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions and bend the healthcare cost curve.”
The reforms highlighted in the ad provide a workable framework on which policymakers can build without creating a government-run plan that would disrupt the quality coverage Americans currently have and want to keep, Ignagni said.