Insurance Companies Funded Anti-Reform Ads

Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation’s biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress.

That money, between $10 million and $20 million, came from Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plans, UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint, according to two health care lobbyists familiar with the transactions. The companies are all members of the powerful trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans.
The funds were solicited by AHIP and funneled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help underwrite tens of millions of dollars of television ads by two business coalitions set up and subsidized by the chamber. Each insurer kicked in at least $1 million and some gave multi-million dollar donations.

This was at the same time the insurers were claiming they supported reform.

Jason at the HCAN blog writes:

For the record, that’s enough money to provide up to 3,000 families health insurance for a year, if the insurance companies had any interest in actually providing health care to people.

This reflects poorly on everyone involved. The Chamber of Commerce - ostensibly a principles interest group with its own constituency and goals - is revealed to be nothing more than a front group for hire. And the insurance companies and AHIP not only lied about their support for reform (as we’ve known all along), but lacked the courage of their convictions to put their money into their opposition publicly.