Lies of Omission

Last weekend the lobby for U.S. health insurance corporations, AHIP, released a report it commissioned from the consulting arm of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It indicated that insurance costs would skyrocket if the “Baucus Bill” before the Senate Finance committee, a bill that would regulate insurance companies (and insurance executive salaries) became law.

Surprise!

But not so fast. Page E-1 of the PwC  paper explains:

America’s Health Insurance Plans engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to examine the impact of four components of the health reform bill being proposed by the Senate Finance Committee ….” [Emphasis added]

Page 1 gives the game away: 

The reform packages under consideration have other provisions that we have not included in this analysis. We have not estimated the impact of the new subsidies on the net insurance cost to households. Also, if other provisions in health care reform are successful in lowering costs over the long term, those improvements would offset some of the impacts we have estimated. [Emphasis added]

And this in a report comissioned by the insurance industry itself.

Sample press reaction:

“The Insurance Industry’s Deceptive Report,” Ezra Klein, Washington Post Think Tank blog 

“PwC statement — Not so helpful for AHIP,” Chris Frates, Politico

“Study from health insurers says premiums will rise, but it’s not the whole story,” PolitiFact

The Senate Finance Committee approved the bill on Tuesday. Reform advocates hope AHIP will release similar “research” to help the legislation on its progress through Congress.

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Tags: AHIP, Baucus, Congress, consulting, health insurance, health reform, Insurance Industry, lobbyists