AP Photo of Sen. Snowe (R)
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) — Insurance companies aren’t playing nice any more on the health care overhaul. The industry put out a report Monday concluding that the Senate’s health care legislation would drive up costs to consumers, delivering a dire message at a crucial point in the debate and potentially threatening President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
The White House and congressional Democrats dismissed the late-in-coming message as a “hatchet job.” But it put them and their allies on the defensive a day ahead of a pivotal vote in the Senate Finance Committee on sweeping legislation that aims to achieve Obama’s goals of extending coverage to the uninsured and curtailing spiraling medical costs.
“I really don’t think it’s worth the paper it’s written on,” AARP Executive Vice President John Rother said Monday of the insurance industry report. “If anyone believes it, that’s a problem.”
The study commissioned by America’s Health Insurance Plans marked a shift in strategy by the industry, which had been working for months behind the scenes to help shape health care legislation. With the Senate panel set to vote on legislation the industry fears could result in a loss of revenue, the insurers went on the attack, in dramatic fashion.
