Obama administration takes aim at health care insurance company

While specific health reform legislation may be in winter hibernation - along with the rest of blizzard-struck Washington DC - the debate surrounding health care insurance certainly is not. A top Obama administration official has taken direct aim at an insurance company, demanding a public accounting of a proposed hike in premiums. U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (pictured) has asked Anthem Blue Cross to provide a "detailed justification" of its plans to raise premiums by as much as 39 percent in California. In her 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.

"As we continue the health insurance reform debate in Washington, the announcement reminds us that too many Americans can be left with unaffordable insurance each time the rates or rules change in the private market," Sebelius said. "Your company's strong financial position makes these rate increases even more difficult to understand. As you know, your parent company, WellPoint Incorporated, has seen its profits soar, earning $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009 alone," Sebelius continued in her letter to Anthem president Leslie Margolin.

A company spokeswoman for Anthem Blue Cross said the company had received Sebelius' letter and would be responding shortly. Yet the company and Sebelius appear to agree on the need for health reform. Anthem spokeswoman Peggy Hinz said her company regrets the impact the proposed rate hike will have on members, and said the need for the increase highlights the need for "sustainable health care reform" to manage steadily increasing health care costs. "Unfortunately, in the weak economy many people who do not have health insurance are foregoing buying insurance. This leaves fewer people, often with significantly greater medical needs, in the insured pool," Hinz said in an email to Justmeans. The shrinking insured pool drives up health care insurance costs for everyone else, and Hinz said Anthem plans to look for ways to "partner on meaningful change."

The back-and-forth between the secretary and the health care insurance company came just as President Obama announced additional bipartisan health reform talks, including a February 25 meeting that will be televised live. Political observers say the half-day meeting is an attempt by Obama to resuscitate his health reform legislation, a top priority for the president. Whether Obama will agree to Republicans' desire to toss out the bills already passed by the House and Senate and start over, this time with more Republican input, is not known. But the bipartisan meetings do appear to represent a shift in administration's strategy for passing health reform - a shift that recognizes Democrats' recent loss of their 60-seat supermajority in the Senate.

The talks are a good move. Obama will not see legislation passed, and health care insurance members will not see a sustained decrease in premiums and other costs, if the president forgets about his friends on the other side of the aisle. Republicans say they have good ideas; they should offer them in good faith and be willing to make sensible compromises. Obama should accept the ideas that work, regardless of their source. Americans deserve stability and affordability in their health care system, and they will be watching their leaders on February 25. What do you think?

Photo Credit: U.S. Dept. HHS