Insurance CEO Criticical Of "Obama's Overreaching Regulations"

While speaking on a panel hosted by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) on Monday, Sandra Parrillo, president and CEO of Providence Mutual Fire Insurance, advocated for regulations to ensure insurance companies are held accountable to fulfill promises in contracts but advocated against duplicative, expensive, overreaching and unnecessary regulations that serve as a distraction for insurance companies. (00:40)

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AHIP Head Says Industry Is Troubled By Rising Health Care Costs

America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Karen Ignagni insisted during testimony before a Senate hearing Tuesday that the rising cost of premiums is a result of the increase in the underlying costs of health care.

“That is what our advocacy in health care reform had been all about. We were very, very concerned [when] we saw costs exploding,” said Ignagni.
(0:30)
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Health Care Status Quo Putting Families In Impossible Situations, Says Secretary Sebelius

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says that the costs of health care coverage are putting families in impossible situations. (0:18)
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Shifting Insurance Policies Highlight Need For Health Care Reform, Says Sebelius

Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Monday that shifts in Americans health insurance coverage, including massive premium hikes, highlight the need for health care reform. (0:20)
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Democrats Have Waited Long Enough, Now It's Time To Go It Alone On Healthcare, Says Ohio Democrat

During a conference call with reporters on Friday, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says Republicans have no intention of passing any health care bill, and that the House and Senate should move forward without them. (0:11)
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Reconciliation Would Mean Only Minor Adjustments, Says Democrat Brown

Sherron Brown (D-Ohio) says Republicans need to understand that the healthcare reform bill does have a bipartisan flavor, adding that the GOP's ideas that are in the bill won't be taken out during reconciliation. (0:33)
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GOP Wants Obama To Fail On Health Reform, Says Ohio Democrat

During a conference call with reporters on Friday, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) says many Republicans are trying to ensure that President Barack Obama fails at passing health care reform. (0:17)
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Sebelius Urges Insurance Companies To Publish Reasons For Rate Increases

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calls for health insurance companies to publish information online explaining why they are raising prices. (0:23)
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Rate Hikes Badly Hurt Customers, Says HHS Secretary Sebelius

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius lists a number of negative effects that arbitrary rate increases on the part of health insurance companies can have on the budgets of consumers. (1:02)
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Obama Calls For Congress To Give The Public Insurance Similar To Their Own

President Barack Obama called on Congress to allow individuals and small business to buy into a large insurance pool similar to that which Congress and the President are a part of during Thursday's Health Care Summit. (0:40)
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Minnesota Republican Wants Small Businesses To Be Able To Buy Into Large Insurance Plans

Rep. Joe Kline (R-Minn.) says at the White House Health Care Summit that letting small businesses buy into large insurance plans will not only help them lower costs, but is a better idea than a national health exchange. (0:25)
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Limited Eligibility For Public Option In House Bill, Says Expert

Health care expert Trudy Lieberman says it is a little known fact that the public option plan will not be available to "very many people." She says the public was led to believe that insurance reform would allow anyone to join the public option for lower priced insurance, but that is not the case. (0:21)
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Baucus Says He's Confident In Healthcare Bill

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says he is confident that there will be a meaningful healthcare reform bill on the Senate floor that will lower costs, be deficit neutral over 10 years, protect Americans from harmful insurance industry practices, keep companies from denying coverage to those who have pre-existing conditions and will prevent companies from dropping coverage for Americans who get sick. (0:46)
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Congress Must Ensure Fair Health Care Costs Says Republican Issa

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says it is important that people pay health care costs that are fair, especially those who are self-insured or uninsured. He adds that the current system drives people to acquire insurance plans that are more expensive than what they can afford. (:71)
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Pelosi: Congress Has Made Historic Progress With Health Care Reform

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says that two out of the five relevant House and Senate committees have passed health care reform legislation which is something that's never been done before. She says, “Congress has made historic progress on health insurance reform that will put patients and doctors back in charge and ensure quality, affordable, accessible health care for America’s middle class.” 0:33)
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No American Family Should Have To Worry About Health Insurance, Says Hoyer

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says no American family should have to go to sleep worrying about their child getting sick and not having access to health care. (0:09)
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Insurance Market Must Be Fixed For Reform To Work, Says Health Policy Expert

Dr. Len Nichols, Director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, says, "If we don't fix the insurance market, none of this [reform] is going to work." He also highlights the need for changes in regulation and an increase of competition in the insurance market. (0:22)
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Health Care Insurance Should Resemble Car Insurance, Not Be Tied To Jobs, Says Sen. Barrasso

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) says health care insurance shouldn't be tied down to jobs. He says it should be like car insurance in the sense that individuals should own it. (0:40)
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Cato Fellow: Massachusetts Health Care Reforms Forcing Coverage Changes

Michael Tanner, senior fellow of the Cato Institute, says people in Massachusetts who had health insurance and were happy with it are having to change their coverage because their current plan does not comply with the state's mandates. It is just one example of the lessons he believes the federal government should take from the results of Massachusetts' 2006 health care reforms. (0:23)
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Cato Fellow: Massachusetts Provides Universal Coverage But No Cost Containment

Michael Tanner, senior fellow of the Cato Institute says, “Massachusetts’ biggest mistake was that they made universal coverage the loadstone of their reforms. That the whole idea of whether or not this was to be a successful reform was did they get a piece of paper into everybody’s hands that said they had health insurance. They neglected the all important issue of cost containment.”
Tanner believes the federal government should consider problems like this before reforming the national health care system. (0:54)
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