As a former health insurance exec, here's a trick my old industry does that is particularly vile: The @USChamber has cultivated a brand synonymous w/ small town pride & local business. But here's the truth: these orgs are front groups for the corporate health insurance industry.
A new report from the @NYHCampaign & NY Metro Chapter of @PNHP reveals why local and regional Chambers & other business groups in NY lobby against single-payer health plans, even though it would financially benefit their small business members: actionnetwork.org/user_files/use…
Why are these business groups fighting policies that would help their Main Street members? The answer, as always, is the corrupting influence of big money.
The state’s largest & most profitable health insurance companies are members and supporters of Chambers. And they encourage these business groups to sell insurance plans to their business members - and they give them a cut from each of these sales.
When an organization like @USChamber receives a significant amount of its revenue from selling private insurance plans, they are not going to kill the golden goose by advocating for policies that limit the profits of large health insurers.
The largest health insurers in the country have declared war on all health care reform proposals, from the Public Option proposed by @POTUS to @BernieSanders Medicare for All plan. Both policies could threaten their profits and authority.
The @USChamber announced last year the launch of PACT, a multi-million dollar campaign aimed at fooling Americans into believing they *like* their employer-sponsored health insurance. But when COVID shut down businesses, the Chamber worried how this would impact its best clients.
They teamed up with the country’s biggest health insurance companies & hospitals to call on Congress to subsidize private health insurance plans for laid-off workers instead of allowing them to auto enroll in Medicare, which would have been far more efficient and affordable.
This corporate welfare comes, of course, during a year that the insurance industry saw record profits because people were paying their premiums, but unable to see a doctor or get non-emergency care during the height of COVID-19.
This is nothing new for @USChamber. Ten years ago, the insurance industry’s biggest PR & lobbying group, @AHIPCoverage, funneled more than $100M to the U.S. Chamber to bankroll the Chamber’s campaign against the passage of the ACA.
The Chamber has launched similar propaganda campaigns against other proposals that threaten corporate profits, including allowing the federal government to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower health care prices.
Not all business groups have these conflicts. I left the industry years ago & now serve as president of @BusinessM4A, a group of 3,200 businesses in 50 states that believe employer health care is broken & hurting our economy. The group takes $0 from the health insurance industry.
Small businesses need help right now. When it comes to health care, they either can’t afford it or are drowning in costs to pay for it. It’s too bad their best ally, @USChamber, is taking proverbial bribes from the insurers that are ripping them off.
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