- America’s Health Insurance Plans
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is a national
political advocacy and trade association with about 1,300 member companies that sellhealth insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans. [ [http://www.ahip.org/content/default.aspx?bc=31 AHIP] Accessed 6 April 2007.] AHIP was formed through the merger of Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) and American Association of Health Plans (AAHP). [ [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-11-2003/0002074162&EDATE= Press Release] dated December 11, 2003 (retrieved November 13, 2007)] [ [http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ahip/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=AC500438-A63A-41EF-B4F0-BFFC93B584C3©id=46A67C43-F08A-478D-AB02-C382FA2B3A20 AHIP "Smartbrief" announcing merger] ] [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E4DB1F3AF930A1575AC0A9659C8B63 "Health insurers gain a huge new lobby,"] "New York Times ", September 23, 2003] [SARAH LUECK, [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB106426654381679800.html?mod=home_whats_news_us "Two health trade groups to merge,"] ,Wall Street Journal , September 23, 2003] AAHP was formed through a merger between twoHealth Maintenance Organization (HMO) trade associations, Group Health Association of America and American Managed Care and Review Association.Fact|date=March 2007In 2006, AHIP spent over
US$ 7 million on lobbying. [ [http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/clientsum.asp?year=2006&txtname=America%27s+Health+Insurance+Plans Lobbyist Reports: America's Health Insurance Plans] ] , and its 2005 television ad "Shark Bait" drew harsh criticism for its claim that "lawsuit abuse" by Americantrial lawyers cost the typical American family US$1,200 a year. [ [http://www.factcheck.org/politics/insurance_industry_ad_makes_fishy_claim_about.html FactCheck.org: Insurance Industry Ad Makes Fishy Claim About Lawyers ] ] The AHIP Center for Policy and Research is the trade association's research arm. [ [http://www.ahipresearch.org/ AHIP Center for Policy and Research ] ] The center publishes research on a variety of forms of private health insurance, often based on survey data gathered from AHIP member companies. The forms of insurance studied includedisability income andlong-term care insurance as well as different types of medical expense insurance.AHIP President Karen M. Ignagni [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/us/politics/16clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin ROBERT PEAR] "New York Times" September 16, 2007.] frequently serves as a spokesperson for the views of the
insurance industry , [ [http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clinton-plan-sparks-frenzy-2007-09-18.html Sam Youngman, "Clinton plan sparks frenzy," "TheHill.com" September 18, 2007] ] recently taping an episode ofThe Oprah Winfrey Show oppositeMichael Moore to discuss "Sicko ". [ [http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/6030.html Aoife McCarthy, "Suite Talk: Making room for new faces: A bad day at the office for AHIP?", "Politico.com", September, 26, 2007] ] In response to a past statement by Senator Hillary Clinton that insurance companies "spend tens of billions of dollars a year figuring out how not to cover people" and "how to cherry-pick the healthiest persons, and leave everyone else out in the cold", Ignagni asserted the AHIP endorses the goal of universal coverage, that insurers deny only 3 percent of claims, and that many of those are for experimental procedures that employers do not cover. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/us/politics/16clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin ROBERT PEAR] "New York Times", September 16, 2007.]References
External links
* [http://www.ahip.org/ America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Website ]
* [http://www.ahipresearch.org/ AHIP Center for Policy and Research ]
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