Health Plans Playing Awful Blame Game

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 29, 2022
+1 (202) 823-2333

WASHINGTON — The New York Health Plan Association's (NYHPA) new policy brief aims to examine "the drivers of rising health care costs affecting health insurance premiums." Yet, to mask their record profits, extraordinary executive compensation, and efforts to deny patients care, the state's health plans are blaming inflation, COVID-19, and physicians.

According to Action for Health President Christopher Sheeron, "New York's health insurance companies are pointing their finger at everyone -- and everything -- else except themselves. This latest blame game is an affront to New York's almost 20 million patients. And the fact that, on the heels of this brief, the state's health insurers are now proposing patients stomach a nearly 19% hike in premiums is reprehensible."

Here is a side-by-side overview of some of NYHPA's claims versus reality.

  • NYHPA: "Health insurance premiums are directly tied to the underlying cost of care."

  • Reality: Most doctors and hospitals are bound by multi-year contracts with insurers and have minimal negotiating power to adjust for inflation. But last year, NYHPA member UnitedHealthcare paid its CEO $142 million.

  • NYHPA: "Treatment related to COVID-19, including individuals with long-COVID, testing, treatment and vaccination, is expected to persist."

  • Reality: Utilization dropped tremendously during the pandemic, especially in 2020. Yet, in what otherwise would have been paid out as medical claims, health plans simply kept patients' cash. Nor did they offer any rebates like many other companies did for their customers. Health plan profits were substantially higher than normal due to the unprecedented delay in elective and non-emergency procedures.

  • NYHPA: "Hospital and physician costs continue to rise as well."

  • Reality: It is duplicitous to argue that hospital and doctor costs are rising when hospitals and doctors throughout New York are not even being compensated due to the stalled and faulty operation of the federal No Surprises Act's independent dispute resolution (IDR) portal.

Sheeron concluded, "Health insurers are the biggest players in New York's healthcare market. Despite their best spin, they are the ones primarily driving up costs."
Action for Health is a national non-profit patient advocacy organization working to ensure fair outcomes for critical healthcare issues. The organization educates policymakers, the media, and concerned citizens about policies, laws, and regulations that are important to patients.