Insurance Industry Lies v. the American People

January 14, 2010

With Congress on the verge of passing historic health care reform, opponents are apparently willing to do just about anything to stop our efforts to fix the health care crisis, drive costs down and cover all Americans.

Among our key priorities, AFSCME is fighting to maintain important consumer protections in health care reform, and to rein in the abusive practices of the industry. The insurance industry has fought to undermine any new proposed regulations, even those they have publicly agreed to. Unfortunately, much of their lobbying is hidden and grossly underreported.

Now an explosive expose by the National Journal reports that the insurance industry secretly spent as much as $20 million on recent ads attacking health care reform, scaring the public and spreading misinformation. Big insurance companies, including Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint, funneled millions through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and front groups to hide their contributions and negative campaign while they acted like they were willing to make a deal.

The industry’s covert tactics to protect their bottom line demonstrate why we need strong market reforms, such as ensuring access to a national health insurance buying pool with strong federal oversight, and stopping insurers from finding new and creative ways to deny care based on pre-existing conditions and other factors.

The health care crisis is dragging down our economy and making Americans sick, yet all the insurance industry cares about is their profits.