AHIP Statement on the Two-Year Anniversary of the Passage of the Affordable Care Act

For Immediate Release
March 23, 2012

Contact:
Robert Zirkelbach
202-778-8493

“The ACA expands health insurance coverage to millions of Americans, a goal that health plans have long supported. Health plans are working hard to implement the new reforms in a manner that will minimize coverage disruptions and cost increases for individuals, families, and employers.

“Building on health plans’ innovations that advance high-quality health care, the new law takes a number of preliminary but promising steps toward reforming the delivery system. However, the ACA does not meaningfully address the unsustainable rise in health care costs that is adding a financial burden on families and employers, taking up a greater share of our federal budget, and threatening our economic competitiveness around the world. Simply capping health plan administrative costs and focusing on premium rates will not make health care coverage more affordable.

“There are challenges coming in 2014 that policy makers need to address now to prevent cost increases and disruptions for consumers, including: a new $70 billion health insurance tax that the Congressional Budget Office says will increase the cost of coverage for families and small businesses; age-rating restrictions that will cause premiums to significantly increase for young adults; and minimum benefit requirements that will force many individuals and small employers to ‘buy up’ and purchase additional coverage beyond what they have today.”

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Providing Health Benefits for Over 200 Million Americans.