Seeds of Doubt

Expect the sowers of confusion to plant more seeds now that legislation to reform the nation's health care system has moved to the full Senate. They've already begun.

A study released earlier this week by the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers and paid for by the insurance industry found that premiums would rise about $4,000 a year more than if nothing is done.

Scary stuff. Until you learn that the insurers limited the scope of the study to only four components of the bill. The bean counters at PriceWaterhouseCoopers didn't consider provisions designed to keep a lid on health care spending and whether these provisions might affect premiums.

In a statement, the accounting firm acknowledged that it did not estimate "the impact of the new subsidies on the net insurance cost to households" or "other provisions in health care reform" which, if "successful in lowering costs over the long term would offset some of the impacts we have estimated."

"That's like saying, 'Most people think the Earth is round, but if it is flat, here is what it would look like.'" Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform, told ABC News.

The industry is either trying to kill health care reform or wants changes to the bill sponsored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont).

Insurers have argued that penalties for people who don't sign up for mandated insurance coverage should be made stiffer to ensure compliance. That's not necessarily a bad idea; the penalties were watered down before passage by the committee. But if penalties are going to be stiff, then the plans have to become more affordable for the average consumer and the subsidies broader.

In any case, we question insurance industry tactics. Insurers have said they want a seat at the table. Trying to undermine the bill by releasing a deeply flawed study on the eve of a key committee vote looks more like politics as usual than it does honest debate.

Unfortunately, we probably can expect more of the same.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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