Obama administration summons health care insurance companies to Washington

President Obama's war on health care insurance costs seems to have at least two fronts: the one in the Capitol rotunda and the one in corporate boardrooms. Obama's Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has asked CEOs from a handful of top insurance companies to meet and discuss recent proposals to hike health care premiums, some by as much as 39 percent. Sebelius' summons comes two days after Obama released his own plan for reform, and was ever so slightly more conciliatory than her last letter to the health care insurance industry.

"I am concerned about these increases, which make it harder for people to access the health care they need, and eager to hear the justification for these increases and steps we can take to create a more stable system that keeps premium costs down for all Americans," Sebelius wrote Wednesday to top executives of UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc., Aetna Inc., Health Care Service Corporation and CIGNA HealthCare Inc. along with leaders from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

"We all share a commitment to fighting fraud in our health care system, driving down health care costs and implementing reforms that will add value to our health care system. I look forward to a productive conversation on these and other issues," Sebelius added. The meeting is scheduled for March 3.

Just how productive will that conversation be? That's unclear. This is the second time in as many weeks that Sebelius has asked health care insurance companies to justify proposed hikes. Earlier this month she took direct aim at WellPoint, blasting the company for proposing a 39 percent hike in California at a time when the company took in more than 2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009. In that letter to the company, Sebelius called the proposal "extraordinary" and noted that the suggested increase, if enacted, would be up to 15 times faster than the cost of inflation.

For their part, health care insurance companies have blamed the recession for their proposed hikes. They say higher numbers of unemployed people translate into fewer people buying insurance. That leaves fewer people, often with significantly greater medical needs, in the insured pool, which drives up costs for everyone. Many health care insurance companies have said they want to partner on "meaningful reform."

So far Sebelius appears not to buy it. Do you?

Photo Credit: Mark Coggins