Latest News

-RASMUSSEN REPORTS-

Voters are ambivalent about House Republican plans to investigate the Obama administration – unless the subject of the probe is the unpopular national health care bill.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 55% of Likely U.S. Voters favor having House Republicans investigate the projected costs and implications of the health care law passed by Congress earlier in the year.

Thirty-two percent (32%) oppose such an investigation. Fourteen percent (14%) more are not sure about the idea. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans and nearly two-thirds (65%) of voters not affiliated with either major party support an investigation of the costs and implications of the health care bill. Most Democrats (56%) are opposed.

Voters have mixed feelings about House Republican plans to investigate other aspects of the Obama administration’s performance to date.  GOP voters like the idea; Democrats don’t; unaffiliateds are almost evenly divided.

“Voters want Congress to focus on substance, not distractions,” observed Scott Rasmussen. “Congressional questioning about policy issues are okay for most voters, petty partisanship is not.”

Still, just a week after national elections that shifted control of the House to Republicans, the number of voters expecting more partisanship in Washington, D.C. has dropped to its lowest level since March of last year.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on November 7-8, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion polling information. We poll on a variety of topics in the fields of politics, business and lifestyle, updating our site’s content on a news cycle throughout the day, everyday.

Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade. To learn more about our methodology, click here.

By Jenny Backus, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs

Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national association of health insurers, calling on their members to stop using scare tactics and misinformation to falsely blame premium increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act. Sebelius noted that the consumer protections and out-of-pocket savings provided for in the Affordable Care Act should result in a minimal impact on premiums for most Americans. Further, she reminded health plans that states have new resources under the Affordable Care Act to crack down on unjustified premium increases.

Here is the full text of the letter:

Ms. Karen Ignagni

President and Chief Executive Officer
America’s Health Insurance Plans
601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
South Building, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Ms. Ignagni:

It has come to my attention that several health insurer carriers are sending letters to their enrollees falsely blaming premium increases for 2011 on the patient protections in the Affordable Care Act. I urge you to inform your members that there will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases.

The Affordable Care Act includes a number of provisions to provide Americans with access to health coverage that will be there when they need it. These provisions were fully supported by AHIP and its member companies. Many of the legislation’s key protections take effect for plan or policy years beginning on or after September 23, 2010. All plans must comply with provisions such as no lifetime limits, no rescissions except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact, and coverage of most adult children up to age 26. New plans must comply with additional provisions, such as coverage of preventive services with no cost sharing, access to OB / GYNs without referrals, restrictions on annual limits on coverage, a prohibition on pre-existing condition exclusions of children (which applies to all group health plans), access to out-of-network emergency room services, and a strengthened appeals process. And health plans that cover early retirees could qualify for reinsurance to sustain that coverage for businesses, workers, and retirees alike.

According to our analysis and those of some industry and academic experts, any potential premium impact from the new consumer protections and increased quality provisions under the Affordable Care Act will be minimal. We estimate that that the effect will be no more than one to two percent. This is consistent with estimates from the Urban Institute (1 to 2 percent) and Mercer consultants (2.3 percent) as well as some insurers’ estimates. Pennsylvania’s Highmark, for example, estimates the effect of the legislation on premiums from 1.14 to 2 percent. Moreover, the trends in health costs, independent of the legislation, have slowed. Employers’ premiums for family coverage increased by only 3 percent in 2010 – a significant drop from previous years.

Any premium increases will be moderated by out-of-pocket savings resulting from the law. These savings include a reduction in the “hidden tax” on insured Americans that subsidizes care for the uninsured. By making sure insurance covers people who are most at risk, there will be less uncompensated care, and, as a result, the amount of cost shifting to those who have coverage today will be reduced by up to $1 billion in 2013. By making sure that high-risk individuals have insurance and emphasizing health care that prevents illnesses from becoming serious, long-term health problems, the law will also reduce the cost of avoidable hospitalizations. Prioritizing prevention without cost sharing could also result in significant savings: from lowering people’s out-of-pocket spending to lowering costs due to conditions like obesity, and to increasing worker productivity – today, increased sickness and lack of coverage security reduce economic output by $260 billion per year.

Given the importance of the new protections and the facts about their impact on costs, I ask for your help in stopping misinformation and scare tactics about the Affordable Care Act. Moreover, I want AHIP’s members to be put on notice: the Administration, in partnership with states, will not tolerate unjustified rate hikes in the name of consumer protections.

Already, my Department has provided 46 states with resources to strengthen the review and transparency of proposed premiums. Later this fall, we will issue a regulation that will require state or federal review of all potentially unreasonable rate increases filed by health insurers, with the justification for increases posted publicly for consumers and employers. We will also keep track of insurers with a record of unjustified rate increases: those plans may be excluded from health insurance Exchanges in 2014. Simply stated, we will not stand idly by as insurers blame their premium hikes and increased profits on the requirement that they provide consumers with basic protections.

Americans want affordable and reliable health insurance, and it is our job to make it happen. We worked hard to change the system to help consumers. It is my hope we can work together to stop misinformation and misleading marketing from the start.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Sebelius

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced the first two steps of a new plan in the Affordable Care Act that would partner states with other stakeholders to begin to establish health insurance Exchanges.  The concept behind each Exchange would be to provide a marketplace for people who are not covered through their employers to shop for health insurance under the national healthcare plan.

Each state will be allotted up to $1 million in grants to help the states begin establishing health insurance Exchanges.

The Exchanges are set to start in 2014 and will give individuals and small businesses a greater choice of options in their healthcare.  It will also make it easier for insurance shoppers to compare the available national health insurance packages.

“With most states struggling to keep their budgets in balance, these grants will give them the resources to conduct the research and planning needed to build the health insurance marketplace of the future,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “We are working hand-in-hand with states as we carefully implement the Exchanges to make sure they best meet people’s health insurance needs.”

The Exchange grants will be used by states to conduct the research and planning needed to build a better health insurance marketplace and determine how their Exchanges will be operated and governed.  If a state chooses not to create its own Exchange, they can partner with other states to create a regional exchange.  If they choose not to, HHS will help establish one on their behalf.

While the programs are being developed, HHS is asking states, consumer advocates, employers, insurers and anyone else with an opinion or ideas to provide input to help HHS develop regulations for national healthcare.