CALPIRG Blog

With health care legislation soon to be introduced in Congress, the opposition is getting ready to attack. 

Up until this point, you could almost think that health care reform was about as controversial as a resolution honoring the contributions of schoolteachers to our national greatness.  For months, industry groups have professed their eagerness to be partners for reform, studiously downplaying any desire to kill Obama's plan and instead confining their activities to wrangling over the elements of reform.  This kabuki-show reached its zenith (or perhaps its nadir) last week, with industry's announcement that they would voluntarily cut $2 trillion in health care costs over the next decade.

Anyone who trusted that promise as far as they could throw it must not have a very good arm.  And surprising absolutely no one, they quickly tried to walk back their commitment (and then, when they started taking flak, they tried to walk back the walk-back. Nobody ever accused the health care industry of being profiles in courage).

But lobbyists fudging on their promises isn't all that unusual.  What's worse is the tack taken by Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, who are members of one of the trade associations that signed that letter.  As they were committing to working constructively with President Obama, simultaneously they were prepping a PR campaign attacking one of the central policies of the President's plan for reform.

Hypocritical?  Sure.  But it also goes to show that the nice-guy pose isn't going to last forever.  Well-funded apologists for the industry, like Conservatives for Patients' Rights, have been dropping millions to spread disinformation and undermine reform (though to give them credit, it takes some real innovative thinking to label a cable TV ad buy as a "massive grassroots effort"), and they've stepped up their efforts in recent weeks, too.  Health insurance companies are running scared, but they're not going to stay on the sidelines forever.

In fact, we could start seeing out and out opposition in little more than a week, when Senator Kennedy releases his initial draft of reform legislation.  Or the special interests might stay mum and just talk about making some modest amendments, regardless of what they're actually thinking.

Ultimately, the unsustainable cost increases and bad practices of insurers aren't good for their business.  It's hard to sell a product when your customers can't afford it.  Sometimes the industry seems to understand that, and comes to the table -- but then there are shenanigans like these. 

Of the two sides of the industry we've seen, I certainly hope they choose productive engagement, rather than short-sighted opposition.  But given their behavior so far, it's easy to suspect that they've made their decision.