Bruce Japsen Senior Contributor Jul 19, 2020, 08:00am
EDT
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE –
JULY 14: Democratic[+]
GETTY IMAGES
Health insurers are beginning to strategize on
how to deal with healthcare proposals pushed by Democrats and a future Joe
Biden White House from a public option to “Medicare at 60” and expanded
Medicaid benefits under a stronger Affordable Care Act.
Health insurers don’t like the idea of a
public option, which would be a government-run plan offered alongside
commercial choices sold by health insurance companies on marketplaces under the
ACA. Biden supports a public option while the Donald Trump White House continues its efforts to
repeal the ACA, the 10-year-old law also known as Obamacare that has
expanded health coverage to more than 22 million Americans.
But health insurance companies aren’t opposed
to bolstering benefits under the ACA incrementally and particularly support
expanded Medicaid coverage. And these health insurers are relieved Biden isn’t
carrying the single payer “Medicare for All” platform of Sen. Bernie Sanders
who campaigned on that proposal before
suspending his campaign and endorsing Biden.
A snapshot into the thinking of health
insurance plans could be heard last week from the top executive of the nation’s
largest health insurance company, UnitedHealth Group, who was asked about some
of Biden’s and Democratic proposals on the company’s second quarter earnings call last week.
Though analysts didn’t directly name the former Vice President, one analyst
said a lot of investors are asking about the public option and UnitedHealth’s
chief executive provided a detailed response.
“Generally speaking, we’re not a strong
supporter of these public option proposals, and primarily because they disrupt
current coverage platforms, which consumers value and appreciate,” UnitedHealth
Group CEO David Wichmann told analysts who follow the company.
“We believe there’s a near universal coverage
system already in America today,” Wichmann said. “It’s obviously not complete
and it has some gaps, but we believe those gaps can be closed and think that
consumers much prefer that we leverage the existing commercial Medicare and
Medicaid markets to provide the types of coverage options and coverages that
are necessary for America.”
Dave Wichmann, chief executive officer of[+]
© 2020 BLOOMBERG
FINANCE LP
The thoughts of health insurance executives
and the Wall Street analysts who follow the industry on Democratic and Biden
proposals come with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign in jeopardy
with polls showing the former vice president ahead by double-digit percentages.
“Things do not look great for President’s Trump re-election chances at this
juncture,” healthcare analysts at Mizuho Securities USA said last month in
their “Washington mid-year review” report.
A Biden win plus Democratic control of the
U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate would likely bring about
efforts to expand healthcare coverage under the ACA, analysts say.
Health insurers like UnitedHealth are proponents
of Medicaid expansion under the ACA in part because practically all U.S. states
contract with private health plans to provide the benefits to poor and
low-income Americans.
There are now 37 states that have adopted Medicaid expansion after
voters in Oklahoma last month approved a ballot initiative to
extend Medicaid benefits to 200,000 low-income adults. Medicaid expansion has
been a boon to UnitedHealth, CVS Health’s Aetna health plan unit, Centene,
Anthem and Molina as well as many Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans.
“We’re obviously strong supporters of the states
that have not expanded to expand,” Wichmann said. “We believe Medicaid is a
strong coverage option.”
Health insurers also sell Medicare Advantage
plans, which are fast-growing private plans that provide seniors benefits via
contracts with the federal government. Biden and the Trump administration are
proponents of Medicare Advantage and would likely to continue efforts to see
more access to such coverage though Biden supports traditional Medicare as
well.
Wichmann said UnitedHealth favors ways to
“ensure that Americans are getting the coverages that are made available to
them by states, federal governments, and the private insurance system.”
No comments:
Post a Comment