Insurance Insiders Give Views On Health Reform

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 04 Aug 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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In an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler called the American health system an out-dated, World War II-era obstacle to economic progress. "We've been talking about health-care reform in this country for over 100 years, and its never happened," he said. However, he added, "I believe that Congress will be successful." Kreidler, a Democrat, was a member of Congress in the 1990s, when the Clinton administration attempted an overhaul. This time around, he said, "We're still in July, and they're making huge progress" (Pulkkinen, 8/2).

In a Q&A with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wendy Arnone, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Wisconsin, the state's largest insurer, said, "Health care reform has been a long time in coming. It's something that's been needed to update our health care system." Insurers could help improve health care, she said, by promoting "efficiency and quality of care in the health-care system," and providing "data and information to providers that allow them to use that to improve" (Boulton, 8/2).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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