 | |
| Formation | 2003 |
|---|---|
| Type | Trade association |
| Purpose | Political advocacy |
| Location | |
Region served | United States |
Key people | Mike Tuffin |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | America's Health Insurance Plans [1] [2] |
AHIP (formerly America's Health Insurance Plans) is an American political advocacy and trade association of health insurance companies that offer coverage through the employer-provided, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care, and individual markets. [3] [4] [5]
AHIP was formed in 2003 by the merger of Health Insurance Association of America and American Association of Health Plans. [6] [7]
The association's 2005 television advertisement "Shark Bait" drew criticism for its claim that "lawsuit abuse" by American trial lawyers cost the typical American family $1,200 a year. [8]
On August 27, 2009, a spokesman for the association told CNN's Lou Dobbs program that "every survey shows strong satisfaction for private health insurance," as part of the organization's campaign against health care reform. The non-partisan Politifact watchdog organization found that his words were "half-true." In fact, Politifact said polls have found that often the majority of consumers have varying degrees of satisfaction, but are not strongly satisfied. [9]
On the July 10, 2009, edition of Bill Moyers Journal , Wendell Potter, former Vice President of corporate communications at the health insurance corporation CIGNA, claimed that the industry was "afraid" of the Michael Moore documentary Sicko . [10] As a result, the association formed a strategy to discredit the film. [10] As part of the reporting on this allegation, Bill Moyers Journal leaked May 2007 and June 2007 drafts of a memo entitled "Ensuring Accurate Perceptions of the Health Insurance Industry". [11] [12]
AHIP gave more than $100 million to help fund the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's 2009 and 2010 efforts to defeat President Obama's signature health care reform law. [13] In 2021, AHIP voiced public support for expanding the Affordable Care Act to help the United States reach universal healthcare coverage. [14]
In 2015, two major American health insurance companies, UnitedHealth and Aetna, left the association. In 2017, a third large insurance company, Humana, also left. [15] [16] Humana and Aetna parent CVS Health subsequently rejoined AHIP, and Humana CEO Bruce Broussard was named AHIP board chairman in 2020. [17] CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch joined the AHIP board in 2021. [18] [19]
According to OpenSecrets, the association spent more than $181.8 million on lobbying from 1998 to 2019; in 2018, $6.7 million was paid for work by 44 lobbyists from seven different lobbying firms. [20]
AHIP was one of several organizations involved in founding and funding Partnership for America's Health Care Future (PAHCF), a nonprofit created in 2019 to oppose the creation of a comprehensive, universal health care system in the U.S. [21]
AHIP's board of directors issued a statement at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic voluntarily agreeing to cover diagnostic COVID-19 tests at no cost to members. [22]
AHIP and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association launched the Vaccine Community Connectors program in March 2021 to help provide COVID-19 vaccination to senior citizens in at-risk and underserved communities. [23] The program helped vaccinate more than 2 million seniors in its first 100 days. [24]
In June 2021, AHIP announced an updated mission and branding that included no longer using the full "America's Health Insurance Plans" title, and instead going simply by "AHIP". [1] [2]
Aetna Inc. is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, primarily through employer-paid insurance and benefit programs, and through Medicare. Since November 28, 2018, the company has been a subsidiary of CVS Health.
The Cigna Group is an American multinational managed healthcare and insurance company based in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Its insurance subsidiaries are major providers of medical, dental, disability, life and accident insurance and related products and services, the majority of which are offered through employers and other groups. Cigna is incorporated in Delaware.
Humana Inc. is a for-profit American health insurance company based in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2023, the company ranked 42 on the Fortune 500 list, which made it the highest ranked company based in Kentucky. It is the fourth largest health insurance provider in the U.S.
Health Net, LLC, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, is an American health care insurance provider. Health Net and its subsidiaries provide health plans for individuals, families, businesses and people with Medicare and Medicaid, as well as commercial, small business, and affordable care insurance.
Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system.
The term managed care or managed healthcare is used in the United States to describe a group of activities intended to reduce the cost of providing health care and providing American health insurance while improving the quality of that care. It has become the predominant system of delivering and receiving American health care since its implementation in the early 1980s, and has been largely unaffected by the Affordable Care Act of 2010.
...intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as Health Maintenance Organizations and Preferred Provider Organizations.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American multinational health insurance and services company based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Selling insurance products under UnitedHealthcare, and health care services and care delivery aided by technology and data under Optum, it is the world's eleventh-largest company by revenue and the largest health care company by revenue.
WellCare Health Plans, Inc. is an American health insurance company that provides managed care services primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans for members across the United States.
In the United States, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and state government employee plans. According to the American Pharmacists Association, "PBMs are primarily responsible for developing and maintaining the formulary, contracting with pharmacies, negotiating discounts and rebates with drug manufacturers, and processing and paying prescription drug claims." PBMs operate inside of integrated healthcare systems, as part of retail pharmacies, and as part of insurance companies.
In the United States, health insurance helps pay for medical expenses through privately purchased insurance, social insurance, or a social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage", "health care coverage", and "health benefits". In a more technical sense, the term "health insurance" is used to describe any form of insurance providing protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes both private insurance programs and social insurance programs such as Medicare, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which both provide assistance to people who cannot afford health coverage.
CareSource is a nonprofit that began as a managed health care plan serving Medicaid members in Ohio. Today, it provides public health care programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio. It is the largest Medicaid plan in Ohio and is second largest in the United States.
The history of health care reform in the United States has spanned many decades with health care reform having been the subject of political debate since the early part of the 20th century. Recent reforms remain an active political issue. Alternative reform proposals were offered by both of the major candidates in the 2008, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections.
The healthcare reform debate in the United States has been a political issue focusing upon increasing medical coverage, decreasing costs, insurance reform, and the philosophy of its provision, funding, and government involvement.
Wendell Potter is an American advocate for health insurance payment reform, New York Times bestselling author, and former health insurance industry communications director. A critic of HMOs and the tactics used by health insurers, Potter is also a leading national advocate for major reforms of the health insurance industry, including Medicare for All and universal health care.
EmblemHealth is one of the United States' largest nonprofit health plans. It is headquartered at 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a multi-billion-dollar organization with over 3 million members.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama (BCBSAL) is a nonprofit health insurance company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company was founded in 1936, provides coverage to more than 3 million people and is a member of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBS). BCBSAL employs nearly 5,000 people, which includes almost 3,500 people at its corporate headquarters in Birmingham. The company also operates Cahaba Government Benefit Administrators and Cahaba Safeguard Administrators, both headquartered in Birmingham. It commands over 90 percent of the health insurance market in Alabama, a state with half a million uninsured people, one of the highest uninsured rates in the nation at 10 percent of the population.
Elevance Health, Inc. is an American health insurance provider. Prior to June 2022, Elevance Health was named Anthem, Inc. The company's services include medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans through affiliated companies such as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Anthem Blue Cross in California, Wellpoint, and Carelon. It is the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. As of 2022, the company had 46.8 million members within its affiliated companies' health plans.
Bruce Dale Broussard is an American business executive. From 2013 to 2024, Broussard served as Chief Executive Officer of Humana, a healthcare company with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to joining Humana, he served in several executive roles, including chief executive office of McKesson Specialty/US Oncology.
Bright Health Group, Inc. is an American health insurance company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often shortened to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or nicknamed Obamacare, is a United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Once the law was signed, provisions began taking effect, in a process that continued for years. Some provisions never took effect, while others were deferred for various periods.
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