Benefits Coalition Blasts Health-care Proposals

By Chris Frates

(The Politico)  In what is likely the opening shot at health care reform legislation sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah), a coalition of employers and insurance companies that provide health benefits to more than 130 million Americans blasted the plan in a letter to the senators.

“This is a revival of the business-insurance alliance that raised questions about the Clinton health care reform plan in the early 1990s,” an insurance insider said.

In the July 7 letter, obtained by Politico, the National Coalition on Benefits said the legislation “would cause large scale disruption in the source, financing and regulation of the employer-sponsored health care coverage that now serves most Americans.”

“While an amendment permits employers to continue offering health plans to their employees – subject to approval by each of the state agencies where their employees reside – we expect that the source of most health coverage would soon be under the new system of state-sponsored health insurance choices, not through employers. The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation appear to have reached a similar conclusion in their May 1, 2008 analysis of the legislation,” the coalition writes.

The letter could indicate rough sledding ahead for Wyden’s proposal. The coalition is a formidable lobbying force that represents more than 150 businesses and trade groups, including some of the country’s biggest insurance companies and employers. It counts among its members Aetna, AT&T, General Motors, Boeing, Metlife, Wal-Mart and the Home Depot.

Wyden’s staff had no immediate comment.