NU Online News Service, Aug. 19, 3:45 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON–The Democratic leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked 52 health insurers to provide detailed information on their compensation and other financial information by Sept. 4.
The letter requesting the information was signed by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the committee, and Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the panel's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
Besides detailed compensation data, the companies were asked to list premium revenue by market segment; claims payments; sales expenses; other expenses; and profits for all health insurance products, including an explanation of the methodology used for the calculations.
Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, which represents all health insurers, responded by saying, "This is just a fishing expedition designed to silence the health insurance industry and distract attention away from the fact that the American people are rejecting a government-run plan."
No insurer was immediately available for comment.
At the same time, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued a statement saying that the bipartisan panel within his committee "continues its work" and will hold its next meeting tomorrow night by teleconference.
"Bipartisan progress continues," and "the Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate," he said.
He added that staffs of the bipartisan group continue to meet as well.
In other health care legislation developments, the alternative risk transfer industry said it believes compromise proposals for health care cooperatives as a substitute for the so-called "public option" constitute an opportunity for the industry.
And, in one of the few Republican congressional comments in support of the legislation, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., ranking minority member of the House Financial Services Committee, said he could support creation of privately administered, nonprofit co-operatives as a compromise to the "public option" being promoted by some congressional Democrats.
In comments at a packed town hall meeting in an Alabama district, he said he could also support provisions in health care delivery overhaul legislation that sought to eliminate fraud and waste in existing government programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
In recent comments, Obama administration officials have suggested they are not wedded to the "public option," a government-run alternative to private health insurance offered by for-profit companies.
"I cannot vote for a bill that has the government intruding into the private sector, subsidizing health care and eventually putting the insurance companies out of business," Mr. Bachus said.
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