LOS ANGELES — As I wrote in my book, Deadly Spin, the health insurance industry and other special interest groups use a tried-and-true set of tactics to push back against threats to their profitability. I referred to those tactics collectively as "The Playbook on How to Influence Lawmakers and Regulators Through the Manipulation of Public Opinion."
Seeing what is playing out in California this year, I should have included voters, along wit! h lawmakers and regulators, as among those subject to influence.
Health care reform advocates in California, led by Consumer Watchdog, are supporting a November ballot initiative to give the state insurance department authority to reject proposed rate increases that are deemed to be excessive.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 35 states have given their insurance departments the legal power of prior approval — or disapproval — of proposed health insurance rate changes.
California is not among them, and advocates believe the state's residents are paying more for their health insurance coverage than necessary. While the Golden State did establish a rate review process in 2011 requiring public disclosure of proposed rate hikes — which the California Public Interest Research Group says has saved residents almost $350 million — lawmakers would not go further and grant the insurance commissioner authority to say "no" to rate hikes. A! s a result, says CalPIRG, about a million Californians paid hi! gher premiums due to rate hikes state state officials deemed "unreasonable" but couldn't do anything about.
So you can be certain that California residents are making significant contributions to the big national health insurers' profitability. And the insurers are spending millions of dollars — and making good use of the The Playbook — to persuade voters that allowing the insurance commissioner to reject unreasonable rate increases would not be in their best interests.
The Los Angeles Times reported last week that health insurers — led by WellPoint, which owns and operates the state's eight-million member Anthem Blue Cross company — has so far contributed $25.4 million to an industry campaign aimed at defeating the rate regulation initiative. WellPoint contributed $12.8 million itself, and has been joined by other insurers, including UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield and Health Net.
There's more to this ! story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Wendell Potter. Former CIGNA executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter writes about the health care industry and the ongoing battle for health reform. Click here to read more stories in this blog.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
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Source : http://news.yahoo.com/insurers-following-playbook-opposing-california-100000616.html
