Missouri’s junior senator thinks an insurance company spokesman is far off base claiming healthcare reform will cause massive increases in insurance premiums.
Compromise versions of complicated healthcare bills are being written by majority Democrats in the House and Senate while excluded Republicans take to the floors of both chambers to complain.
The insurance industry has attacked the proposals. One spokesman from Wellpoint, a Missouri Blue Cross/Blue Shield organization, claims the bill will drive up premiums 20 to 200-percent, depending on the status of the insured, because it bars companies from refusing coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
But Senator McCaskill says that’s not going to happen because the bills will require more people to enter the insurance market. “It’s important that we get the mandate part of this right,” she says, ”
We can’t mandate anyone to get insurance if it’s not affordable. So these are all interrelated.”
McCaskill says none of the ten major health insurance companies have come up with any ideas for reducing costs. Instead, she says,they’ve stood on the sidelines for years and just increased premiums. She says anybody doing open enrollment at work is feeling that.
McCaskill thinks debate will begin within a couple of weeks.
BP asks Sen. McCaskill about the issue
