Health Insurance Plans Kick Off Health Care Reform Campaign by Listening to Uninsured Ohioans

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Map) - Campaign for an American Solution begins nationwide discussion;

Advertising emphasizes need for reform

Link to the Ads: http://www.ahip.org/content/default.aspx?docid=23989

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) today will launch the Campaign for an American Solution by participating in a roundtable discussion with people who are uninsured and community leaders in Columbus, Ohio.

The campaign is a new national grassroots and educational initiative to build support for workable health care reform based on core principles shared by the American people: coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability.

"It is unacceptable that 47 million Americans are uninsured," said Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of AHIP. "We look forward to hearing directly from the people of Columbus about their personal experiences and to sharing ideas about fixing health care."

Today's discussion with uninsured Ohioans is the first of many events that will take place this year. The campaign will engage in conversations with Americans from all walks of life -- those with coverage and those without, small business owners and employees, union leaders and members, physicians and other providers, and working families from diverse communities.

The campaign today also announced a new print and online advertising effort to call attention to the challenges facing the U.S. health care system and encourage Americans to join the campaign.

According to Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured estimates based on U.S. Census Bureau March 2006 and 2007 Current Population Survey data, slightly more than 1.2 million Ohioans are uninsured, or 11 percent of the state's population. The same report estimates nearly 47 million Americans or 16 percent of Americans do not have insurance coverage.

Over the past two years, AHIP's Board of Directors has developed a range of comprehensive policy proposals to cover the uninsured, make health care more affordable, improve the quality of care and guarantee access to coverage in the individual market.

AHIP's plan to cover the uninsured is based on building on the strengths of the current system to make health insurance accessible to all Americans. Key elements of the plan include:

-- Making eligible for Medicaid every uninsured American living in poverty.

-- Strengthening the Children's Health Insurance Program to include all children from low-income uninsured families.

-- Creating a health care coverage tax credit for working families.

-- Giving workers real portability with a new tax-free portable health account that can be used to purchase any type of health care coverage. Individuals, employers, the federal government and state governments could all contribute to the account.

-- Establishing a new federal performance grant program to assist states in expanding access to coverage, reducing costs and improving quality.

Today's discussion in Columbus is unscripted, on-the-record and open to members of the news media. The uninsured Ohioans and community leaders participating in the roundtable are not being compensated.

About the Campaign for an American Solution

The Campaign for an American Solution is a non-partisan, educational and grassroots initiative of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the national trade association whose members provide coverage to more than 200 million people. The Campaign's goal to build support for workable health care reform based on core principles supported by the American people: coverage, affordability, quality, value, choice and portability. For more information, please visit www.americanhealthsolution.org.

America's Health Insurance Plans - Providing Health Benefits to More Than 200 Million Americans