FIRMS START AD BLITZ TO FIGHT HMO REGULATION.Byline: Paul Heldman Bloomberg News A coalition of businesses and health insurers launched a $1 million-plus advertising campaign Wednesday to defeat legislation that would give consumers greater control over coverage decisions by their insurers. The campaign seeks to counter support among Republican and Democratic lawmakers for regulation of managed-care health insurers. The legislation would raise costs, make health coverage less affordable and expand government's reach into citizens' lives, sponsors of the campaign argue. ``Mandates will drive up costs. When costs come up, health coverage declines,'' Tony Burns, chairman and chief executive of the transportation company, Ryder System Inc., told the Bloomberg Forum. Burns is also chairman of the health and retirement task force of the Business Roundtable Business Roundtable (BRT), an association consisting of the chief executive officers of major U.S. corporations that was founded in 1972 through the merger of the three preexisting business organizations. of more than 200 Fortune 500 chief executives. The intensity of the campaign shows that businesses and health insurers know they face a tough battle in trying to defeat, or at least weaken, bipartisan legislation to regulate the managed-care industry. ``Because there is a nationwide groundswell ground·swell n. 1. A sudden gathering of force, as of public opinion: a groundswell of antiwar sentiment. 2. of support for consumer protections, insurance companies view this new advertising campaign as their last chance to stop legislation,'' said Ron Pollack pollack: see cod. pollack or pollock Either of two commercially important North Atlantic species of food fish in the cod family (Gadidae). , executive director of Families USA Families USA is an American non-profit consumer health-care advocacy organization. It was founded by attorney Ron Pollack, its executive director. Pollack was Dean of Antioch School of Law, and argued cases involving food aid for low-income Americans before the Supreme Court. , a consumer advocate group that supports regulation of the industry. About half the Republican-controlled House supports sweeping managed-care insurance legislation. The proposal, introduced by Rep (programming) REP - A directive used in IBM object code card decks (and later PTF Tapes) to REPlace fragments of already assembled or compiled object code prior to link edit. . Charles Norwood
Sir Charles Norwood (23 August 1871 – 26 November 1966), full name Charles John Boyd Norwood, was the twenty-third Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand from 1925 to 1927. , R-Ga., would make it harder for insurers to deny coverage for emergency care and would require health maintenance organizations to offer a policy option to see doctors not affiliated with the health plan. In addition, President Clinton is pushing his own set of consumer protections. The drive to regulate insurers comes as rising medical costs reduce the profits of insurers such as Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc. The giant insurers are part of the Health Benefits Coalition trying to defeat legislation to regulate the industry. The coalition includes all major health insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. groups and some trade associations. |
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