Health insurance executives are increasingly betting that Americans like private coverage more than health benefits that would only be administered by the government given public statements by CEOs and information pushed by their lobbyists.
As presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and some Democrats push a single payer version of Medicare for All that would replace the private healthcare system, health insurers are countering with more aggressive responses, touting their worth to U.S. consumers and patients. Insurers are touting their businesses and noting Americans are buying what they have to offer backed by polls and surveys saying consumers are satisfied.
Take UnitedHealth Group’s CEO, who led off the company’s 80-minute first quarter earnings call this past week talking for several minutes about the benefits of the private insurer’s role working with the government in administering U.S. healthcare benefits.
“The best system is one which is informed, engaged and aligned, where people, their doctors and the private and public sectors work together to improve or sustain individual health, while improving the performance of health systems – for everyone,” UnitedHealth Group CEO David Wichmann said.
And other health insurance CEOs are also speaking out, talking about the expense of Medicare for All and doubting whether it will even happen given how entrenched the private sector is. More than 20 million Americans are now enrolled in private Medicare Advantage plans and most U.S. Medicaid beneficiaries get coverage from a private insurer that contracts with states,reports show.
On the day Centene CEO Michael Neidorff announced the proposed acquisition of WellCare Health plans, he talked about a 10-year cost of Medicare for All of more than $25 trillion and touted insurer efforts to expand benefits in partnership with the government. “We cannot afford it,” Neidorff said on a conference call March 27.
Centene, which already provides coverage for 2 million individually insured Americans under the Affordable Care Act, administers Medicaid benefits and would have an expanded role in Medicare Advantage once the WellCare Health Plan deal closes.
“We have to look at the practical, the political and everything I saw said: This is a great transaction,” Neidorff said. “It put two great companies together in a very meaningful way serving a lot of audiences that you can never do enough to serve.”
Both politicians and health insurers tout studies and polls showing people like both Medicare for All and private coverage.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, which lobbies for most large health insurers including Centene, Cigna and Anthem, released a survey last year showing more than 70% of Americans “satisfied” with their “employer-provided health coverage.”
Meanwhile, other research published by independent organizations shows Americans tend to be satisfied with their private and employer coverage but that could be waning a bit.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, which has monthly tracking polls and other surveys rating the public’s perception of health coverage, showed 83% of Americans rated their employer-based coverage as “excellent” or “good” and 17% said it was “not so good” or “poor,” in a 2016 survey. In 2010, 92% said their employer coverage was “excellent” or “good” and just 7% said it was “not so good” or “poor.”
“Overall, a majority of these individuals rate their coverage favorably, but we did find a slight decrease in favorability from 2010 to 2016,” says Ashley Kirzinger, associate director of Kaiser’s polling team.
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