Fight against health care bill heats up

Priority Health fights Individual Market Reform legislation

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Jan. 16, 2008) Priority Health representatives will testify before the Senate Health Policy Committee in late January about the negative impact of Individual Market Reform, HB 5282-5285.

"This legislation won't help Michigan residents. Instead it will create more uninsured adults and children. And those who do have coverage will pay higher premiums," said Kim Horn, president and CEO. "These bills were written by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) under the guise of providing coverage to Michigan residents who don't have coverage through an employer. But it's really a case of the 'fox guarding the henhouse'!"

Individual Market Reform legislation was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives in November. Since that time, Attorney General Mike Cox and others have spoken out against these potentially damaging bills.

In prepared testimony, Priority Health will make the following points about the proposed legislation:

• Bad health care policy. Instead of creating more affordable choices for individual health care coverage, this will drive up costs for many people and do nothing for Michigan's uninsured. 
• A new tax. Everyone in Michigan will pay higher insurance premiums to cover "carrier assessments" to subsidize BCBSM. 
• "Profits over people." Rather than making health care more affordable, these bills are designed to benefit BCBSM, a company that already enjoys record earnings and an unprecedented 70% market share. As Cox recently said, "These changes promote profits over people."

About Priority Health
Priority Health is a nationally recognized health plan company based in Michigan. It serves more than a half million members with a broad portfolio of products including commercial and government health plans. A nonprofit dedicated to providing all people access to affordable health care, Priority Health ranks 11th in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report magazine and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Priority Health employs 1,000 people throughout Michigan's Lower Peninsula with offices in Farmington Hills, Holland, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Traverse City and its headquarters in Grand Rapids.