Advocates Debate Health Insurance ; Sen. Snowe Backs 'Association Health Plans,' but They Are Opposed by Governors and Insurance Commissioners.

Summary

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Advocacy groups held dueling news conferences Thursday about legislation that U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has pushed to allow businesses to group together across state lines for health insurance. The goal of so-called association health plans is to allow small employers the same negotiating power as large corporations to pay less for insurance. The strategy could reduce the ranks of the uninsured because four out of five uninsured people nationwide belong to a working family.

But critics, including governors and state insurance commissioners, argue that by allowing the health plans to avoid state regulation, the insurers could cheat customers out of medical services. By insuring healthier workers, the plans could also make it much more expensive for the uninsured.

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Advocates Debate Health Insurance ; Sen. Snowe Backs 'Association Health Plans,' but They Are Opposed by Governors and Insurance Commissioners.

Congress has considered whether to allow such health plans for years, with the House approving legislation six times. President ...

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