NU Online News Service, Jan.21, 3:54 p.m.EST

WASHINGTON–A health insurance trade group urgedDemocrats today to focus their health care reform legislationefforts on cost containment and preserving the current role ofagents, brokers and consultants.

Janet Trautwein, chief executive officer of the NationalAssociation of Health Underwriters Healthcare, said the surpriseelection of a Republican to the U.S. Senate from Massachusettsshould lead the Democratically-controlled Congress and the WhiteHouse to open negotiations on bipartisan health care deliveryreform legislation.

Such a measure should key in on health care cost reduction, andimproving quality, choices and access, she said.

Her comments came as President Obama late yesterday accusedhealth insurers of taking advantage of people. In his remarks heacknowledged that the election of Scott Brown to a MassachusettsSenate seat ended the Democrats' super majority and created a needto scale back the scope of the present House and Senate health carereform bills.

"I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce aroundthose elements of the package that people agree on," the presidentsaid.

And, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, indicated that one way to winenough Republican support to get the bill through was to focus onareas that have broad support, for example, ending the practice bysome insurance companies of terminating consumers' policies whenthey get sick.

These comments were made as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,D-Nev., met with Sen.-elect Brown today.

After the meeting, Sen. Reid said that, "I had a pleasantmeeting with Senator-elect Brown and I look forward to working withhim. We have many issues to address over the coming year includinghelping our struggling economy, keeping families in their homes andcreating jobs for out of work Americans.

"It is my hope that Senator-elect Brown will work with us toaddress these many issues as we move forward," he added.

In his comments last night, President Obama said, "We know thatwe need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies aretaking advantage of people."

Specifically, he said, "We know that we have to have some formof cost containment because if we don't, then our budgets are goingto blow up."

And, the president said, "we know that small businesses aregoing to need help so that they can provide health insurance totheir families. Those are the core — some of the core — elementsof, to this bill."

In her comments, Ms. Trautwein said one reason the president hashad trouble winning public support for his bill is that thenegotiation policy and process of the previous health bills did notcome close to dealing a variety of important issues.

She mentioned reasonable reform of the individual and smallgroup market, reasonable tax credits, subsidies and expansion ofMedicaid as a means of adding more people to the health careinsurance rolls.

Ms. Trautwein said the current House and Senate bills don't dealwell with ensuring "greater personal responsibility" for healthcare decisions.

She also criticized decisions to cut the subsidy affordedMedicare Advantage beneficiaries as a means of financing the billand said a provision creating a long-term-care entitlement programshould be deleted.

The bill, she said, should be paid for through "responsiblefinancing that encourages good health, not financing reform on thebacks of those who already have private coverage," i.e., throughthe excise tax the current bills impose on health insurers."

NAHU, said Ms. Trautwein, opposes the employer mandate imposedthrough current bills and she added that health care reform is "fartoo important an issue to be done in any way other than abipartisan fashion."

For NAHU members, she said, "one of the most important elementsof reform must focus on containing the long-term growth in medicalcare, which is what drives insurance prices.

"Unless and until we have the resolve to make reforms thatreduce the underlying growing costs of health care delivery–whetheror not insurance is involved–proposals to expand access toinsurance will just redistribute costs and continue to fall short,"she said.