Carr: Government-run Care Could Kill Insurance Carriers

Carr: Government-run care could kill insurance carriers [The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa] By Nicholas Bergin, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa

Oct. 5--Two Rivers Insurance Services Co. President Kevin Carr agrees with national leaders of the Democratic party on at least one issue: The American health care system needs change.

But when it comes to the controversial issue of a government-run health insurance plan, he sees the potential "public option" as one of the greatest threats the insurance industry faces today.

"If the public option plan gets started, that really to me is going to be the death of the insurance carriers," Carr said Sunday as the guest speaker for the second of four planned Health Care Forums organized by the Unitarian Universalist Church.

The third forum will take place at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 18 and will feature guest speaker Matt Shivers, a pharmacist and manager at Hy-Vee on Angular Street. The final forum will take place at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 1 with guest speaker Mark Richardson, president and chief operating officer of Great River Medial Center. All forums are at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 N. Sixth St. in Burlington.

Carr spent about an hour speaking with an audience of about 20 people on the history of the insurance industry, the challenges facing insurance providers and the health care reform debate being waged by U.S. Legislators and people across the nation.

While concrete details of a possible government insurance plan remain under debate in Congress, Carr worries lawmakers will require health care providers to accept the public option and that it, like Medicare, will reimburse doctors for their services at levels far below that of either for-profit or nonprofit insurance companies.

"There is no way a private insurance carrier, which has to pay 40 percent more for the definition of a claim, will able to compete against the government plan. It just isn't a fair playing ground," Carr said.

Audience member Rick Johnson disagreed, pointing out private insurance companies also put limits on reimbursement for procedures as a way of controlling costs.

"I'm not sure what they (insurance companies) are scared of in a public option that purports to control costs in the same manner. We already do," Johnson said.

Johnson, who works as a technology coordinator for the Louisa-Muscatine School District, said a full third of his paycheck goes toward health care.

While on the campaign trail as the Green Party candidate for Iowa governor in 2006, Johnson found the cost of health care to be a major issue of concern for many residents of the state, he said.

"Everyone wants (health care) cost control, but nobody wants to do it," Johnson said.

While Carr agreed Americans have a moral obligation to assist those who cannot afford health insurance, he took issue with claims made by proponents of the public option that there are 46 million uninsured people living in America.

A U.S. Census report released earlier this year estimated that in 2008 46.3 million people in the United States did not have insurance. But about 10 million of those people are not U.S. citizens, and about 5.6 million are in the country illegally.

President Barack Obama has pledged that reforms will not lead to federal payments for illegal immigrants.

Carr contends that about 40 percent of the remaining 36.6 million uninsured are eligible for Medicaid or a state child health insurance program. Also, he said about half of the remaining 14 million can afford insurance but choose not to get it.

"So you're probably down to maybe 8 million Americans that can't afford it (insurance). And in my personal view, we have a moral obligation to provide coverage of some kind for those folks," Carr said.

Another audience member Tracy Bell, a family physician with the Burlington Area Family Practice, said she is grateful for public programs such as Medicare, even though it has low levels of reimbursement.

"There are so many folks who are between 60 and 65 that don't have insurance, and we are limited with what we can do. So a lot of times it's a relief when they get on Medicare," Bell said.

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Oct. 5--Two Rivers Insurance Services Co. President Kevin Carr agrees with national leaders of the Democratic party on at least one issue: The American health care system needs change. But when it comes to the controversial issue of a government-run health insurance plan, he sees the potential "public option" as one of the greatest threats the insurance industry faces today.