Face-off: Sebelius confronts insurers

Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius confronted insurance executives at their annual conference Wednesday – challenging them to divert millions in anti-reform advertising dollars toward cutting premiums and reciting a litany of insurance horror stories, to a decidedly chilly response. 

The head of the insurance lobby made clear later — she’s heard enough industry-bashing out of the White House. 

“There has been a relentless attack on the men and women who work in our industry,” said Karen Ignagni, the head of America’s Health Insurance Plans. “But the politics as usual in Washington won’t address the underlying affordability issues so we have to move beyond the politics of vilification and get to process of the problem solving.”

Face-off: Sebelius confronts insurers

It was a snapshot of the biggest fight in health reform, inside a ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton, with one of Obama’s top lieutenants giving insurance industry an earful about how they should stop fighting reform and get on board, or risk seeing their industry laid low. 

Sebelius said she did not show up to “vilify” insurers and even said, “It’s not too late to work on this issue together.” But she spent much of her 20-minute speech recounting the tales of Americans who have lost their coverage because of skyrocketing insurance prices, and reminded the audience that major insurers have poured millions of dollars into ad campaigns against the bill. 

“I know a number of you think we should take it slowly, or break it apart or start over again, bit by bit,” Sebelius said. “How many years in a row can we have the same discussion over and over again? How many years can we look at a marketplace that is frankly getting more segmented and more difficult? And how much pressure can we put on the remaining customers before the business model collapses under its own weight.” 

She received only brief applause at the close of her speech. Sebelius didn’t take questions, and immediately exited the ballroom for an event at the White House. 

Ignagni spoke with reporters immediately after the remarks, saying the Democratic campaign against the industry needed to stop. Obama on Monday, for instance, turned up the rhetoric against the health insurers, saying the system can’t work better for companies than for the American people. 

Ignagni said the industry is committed to reform, but the current legislation won’t cut cost as much as Democrats promise. 

“Our concerns are very simple and straightforward: We have been concerned that the legislation will make the system more expensive, not more affordable,” Ignagni said. 

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