Health insurers comment on federal health care overhaul CIGNA Healthcare

By Craig Schneider

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The federal health care overhaul will open access to care but could increase people's insurance rates, said some of Georgia's top health insurance executives during a panel discussion Thursday.

The top officials for seven of the largest health insurers gathered at the downtown office of the state Department of Insurance to discuss the impact of the new federal health care plan, which begins to take effect this year and grows in impact over several years.

Several of the officials praised the intent of the changes to open up health care to millions of uninsured people. But they raised concerns that the overhaul does not address the rising costs of health care. They also worried that the influx of new patients will strain the health system in Georgia, heightening the state's shortage of doctors and stressing emergency rooms.

John Price, president of the Georgia market for Aetna, said the changes could drive up individual insurance rates, at least in the short term.

Tom Davis, the head of Coventry Healthcare of Georgia, said the combination of a shortage of doctors along with a flood of new patients could cause "a bottleneck to primary care."

The other represented firms included Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia, CIGNA Healthcare, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthcare of Georgia.

The executives did not gather on their own, but were drawn by a subpoena by Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. He said he wanted to hear them discuss the impacts on the health changes to Georgians. But while Oxendine could draw the top executives together, he could not elicit much in the way of in-depth answers.

Oxendine, a candidate for governor, used the forum to voice his concerns and criticisms of the health care changes. Many of his questions were directed at having the executives address these concerns.

But often during the hearing, the officials wouldn't bite. Again and again, they responded that they could not speculate on the effects until further research and regulations were completed.

At one point Oxendine asked a question of the group and was greeted with extended silence.

"I'm going to call on someone," he told the executives.