AHIP Statement on Affordable Health Care for America Act

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Karen Ignagni, President and
CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following
statement today in response to the Affordable Health Care for America Act:

"The promise of health care reform has been that if you like your current
coverage, you can keep it. We are concerned that this proposal will break
this promise by increasing health care costs for families and employers across
the country and significantly disrupting the quality coverage on which
millions of Americans rely today.

"The lack of system-wide cost containment is a missed opportunity. Without a
greater focus on health care costs, families and employers will not be able to
afford coverage and health care costs will rise at a rate much faster than the
overall economy is able to sustain.

"We share the concerns that doctors, hospitals, employers, and patients have
all raised about the significant disruption a new government-run plan would
have on the current health care system. A new government-run plan would
bankrupt hospitals, dismantle employer coverage, exacerbate cost-shifting from
Medicare and Medicaid, and ultimately increase the federal deficit.

"Estimates show that a government-run plan would cause millions of people to
lose their current coverage. Moreover, massive Medicare Advantage cuts would
cause millions of seniors to lose their Medicare Advantage coverage
altogether, while millions more would face benefit cuts and higher
out-of-pocket costs.

"Health plans strongly support comprehensive, bipartisan health care reform
and have proposed sweeping insurance market reforms and new consumer
protections to ensure that every American has guaranteed access to affordable
health care coverage. Experience in the states has shown that insurance
market reforms must be paired with an effective personal coverage requirement
for these reforms to work. While this legislation recognizes the key linkage
of market reforms and a personal coverage requirement, more needs to be done
to ensure coverage is affordable and our health care system is sustainable.

"As the process progresses, health plans will continue to work to advance
bipartisan legislation this year that will cover all Americans, make coverage
more affordable, and improve quality."

America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200
Million Americans

SOURCE America's Health Insurance Plans

Robert Zirkelbach of America's Health Insurance Plans, +1-202-778-8493