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America's Health Insurance Plans Comment Letter to IRS on Recent Health Savings Account Guidance

Excerpt: The following are recommendations from America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) for guidance to clarify the requirements for health savings accounts ... Our comments are divided into four categories: (A) requirements for high deductible health plans; (B) contributions to health savings accounts; (C) distributions from health savings accounts; and (D) administration of health savings accounts.

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America's Health Insurance Plans' Definition of Equity - The Principles of Pricing Health Insurance

Excerpt: And how does the private insurance industry define equity in the pricing of health insurance premiums? The premium that 'EACH insured pays must reflect the expected cost of providing coverage to THAT insured,' but not 'an extra amount to make up for those paying less than cost.' So let's see how that would work in a system that finances health care for everyone. The 80 percent of individuals (243 million people) who use 20 percent of our national health expenditures ($479 billion) would each be responsible for $1970 in an equitable system, according to the insurance industry's version. The other 20 percent of individuals (61 million people) who use 80 percent of our national health expenditures ($1,915 billion) would each be responsible for $31,400 in AHIP's version of equity.  MORE >>

America's Health Insurance Plans's Lessons Learned from the Beginnings of Health Insurance

Excerpt: We can learn much from the private insurance industry's professional organization, AHIP. In this instance, we learn its perception of the flaws of earlier insurance products. Those of us who contend that private insurance is an obsolete method of financing health care are not the least surprised by AHIP's statement that 'many companies accepted applications for insurance that they should have refused as bad risks.'  MORE >>

Self-Insurance Institute of America Appeals Michigan Case Allowing State Tax on Health Plan Claims Even When ERISA Applies

"The Self-Insurance Institute of America Inc. is appealing a federal court ruling that said [ERISA] did not pre-empt a 2011 Michigan law imposing a 1% tax on paid health care claims.... U.S. District Court Judge Abele Cook of the Eastern District Court of Michigan disagreed. The Michigan law 'does not mandate any particular benefit structure or bind administrators to certain benefit structures,' he wrote[.]"  MORE >>

Executive Compensation Limits on Health Insurance Providers: Lincoln Amendment to The America's Healthy Future Act (PDF)

1 page. Excerpt: This amendment would create a special rule under Section 162(m) regarding the deductibility of excessive remuneration (including deferred deduction remuneration) by a health insurance provider, if at least 25 percent of the health insurance provider's gross premium income isderived from health insurance plans that meet the minimum creditable coverage requirements in the Chairman's mark ('covered health insurance provider'). Employers with self-insured plans are excluded from the definition of covered health insurance provider.

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Serving Rural America: Health Insurance Providers at Work (PDF)

"[In this article are] five case studies that spotlight the work of eight insurance providers working in four states to address the challenges of rural health in America. These case studies feature innovative approaches to health care delivery, financing, and community engagement and exhibit the leadership of health insurance providers in delivering high-quality, affordable, accessible care to all Americans, including those in rural areas."  MORE >>

CRS Report: Private Health Insurance Provisions of S. 1796, America's Healthy Future Act of 2009 (PDF)

35 pages. "This report summarizes key provisions affecting private health insurance in S. 1796, America's Healthy Future Act of 2009, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Finance on October 19, 2009. Title I of the bill imposes new requirements on individuals, employers, and health plans; restructures the private health insurance market; sets minimum standards for health benefits; and provides financial assistance to certain individuals and, in some cases, small employers." [Report 40918]  MORE >>

Self-Insurance Institute of America Challenges Michigan Health Care Tax

The tax, which is being used to help fund the state's Medicaid program, would be paid by insurers offering fully insured plans and by third-party claims administrators and stop-loss insurers in the case of self-funded plans. The assessment would be paid quarterly starting April 15, 2012.  MORE >>

Additional Information Regarding Effects of Specifications in 'America's Affordable Health Choices Act' Pertaining to Health Insurance Coverage

Target page links to Letter to the Honorable Dave Camp and to the CBO Director's Blog on the issue. Excerpt: The attached analysis responds to your request for additional information about the effects of the specifications regarding health insurance coverage. In particular, you asked about the effects on enrollment in private coverage, in the new public plan, and in Medicaid; the effects on private-sector insurance premiums and the labor market; the longer-term cost of the plan; and the allocation of its net budget impact between outlays and revenues. Because of the complexity of the changes that have been proposed and their potential effects, we are unable to address all aspects of every question that you raised.  MORE >>

Health Insurance in America: Where We Get It, How Long We Keep It, and the Evolving HDHP Landscape (PDF)

"Most people with private health insurance reported getting their coverage through their own job (61 percent) or through a spouse's job (20 percent).... Enrollment in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) that were not eligible to be paired with an HSA continued to fall, reaching 8 percent in 2024, after having reached 15 percent in 2020."  MORE >>

Mandatory Health Insurance: Wrong for Massachusetts, Wrong for America

Excerpt: If we Americans value our health and our lives, then we must reject mandatory health insurance. We must demand that the government stop violating individual rights and start protecting them. We must demand a genuine free market in health insurance and health care, because only a free market can provide us with the quality, affordable health care that we all need.  MORE >>

The History of Health Insurance in America: The Ultimate Web Guide

To get an idea of why health insurance is such a hot button topic in the United States, and where the debate over the roll health insurance companies and the government should play in the future of health care is going, it can help to have some historical perspective.  MORE >>

The Changing Face of Health Insurance: a Briefing on the Future of Health Insurance in America

Excerpt: What is the future of health insurance in the United States? Will some kinds of managed care - those with limited provider networks, comprehensive coverage and low cost-sharing - become increasingly rare? ... These questions and others were addressed at a luncheon briefing on Friday, April 5, 2002.

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Health Insurance Access Is Back On America's Agenda

Excerpt: Now more than ever, the problem of the uninsured must be addressed without delay. That is the unified message being delivered by politicians, special interest groups, voters and academics across America.

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Privately Insured in America: Opinions on Health Care Costs and Coverage (PDF)

"[A]bout 1 in 8 privately insured Americans -- or more than 16 million people -- face major financial hardships like going without food or using up all of their savings as a result of medical bills.... [In] 2007, 17 percent of the privately insured under age 65 were enrolled in a HDHP, and that proportion more than doubled by 2014. This new survey finds that the growing population covered by HDHPs is less likely than other privately insured adults to go to the doctor when sick or get recommended medical treatment, and is more likely to need to use their savings for medical care."  MORE >>

How Corporate Health Insurers Harm America’s Seniors (PDF)

35 pages. "Patients who sign up for Medicare Advantage are forced to deal with narrow networks which heavily restrict their access to physicians and hospitals, and are often misled about the size of these networks through inaccurate listings.... [P]atients in MA who become seriously ill or develop chronic conditions end up paying thousands of dollars for their care ... When patients encounter these issues in MA and wish to switch back to Traditional Medicare, they often find that they are unable to do so.... We must rein in the abuses of MA insurers, eliminate profit-seeking in Medicare and beyond, and put an end to these egregious harms."

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What's Causing America's Rural Health Insurance Crisis?

"Rural areas have long posed a special challenge to health care policymakers, but a poorly-designed system of subsidies for rural hospital care has turned this into a crisis. It has fostered a rural hospital market structure that has crippled the ability of private insurers to negotiate reasonable payment rates, without fully securing the provision of essential care. By refocusing federal assistance on emergency care, it should be possible to restore rural insurance markets to health, while improving the affordability and access to care available to residents."  MORE >>

Gingrich Issues New 'Contract with America'; Includes Health Insurance Proposal

Republican Newt Gingrich ... will today call for Americans to have new choices in how they buy health insurance, pay their income taxes and save for retirement.

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State of Working America Preview: A Staggering Rise in Health Insurance Costs

Excerpt: Family health insurance premiums more than doubled between 1999 and 2009, far outpacing the growth in workers' earnings and overall inflation.  MORE >>

Growing Profits from America's Largest Health Insurers (PDF)

"Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group -- the big five for-profit insurers -- cumulatively collected $4.5 billion in net earnings in the first three months of 2017. Despite all the noise that they were losing money in the ACA marketplaces, the was by far the biggest first-quarter haul for the group since the exchanges went live in 2014."  MORE >>