Insurance companies funded health reform attack ads

In seeking to avoid political and media criticism regarding misleading advertising on the healthcare debate--a la "Harry and Louise" in the 1990s--six large insurers seem to have stepped into another pothole as funds flowed through a conduit that may have funded attack ads on healthcare reform. According to two health care lobbyists familiar with the transactions, between $10 million and $20 million was given to America's Health Insurance Plans by Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plans, UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint.

The funds were funneled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and may have helped underwrite television attack ads. "There's no question that AHIP has quietly solicited monies from their members which were funneled over to the chamber for their ads," said an anonymous source.

While none of the insurers deny contributing funds to AHIP, Kaiser has come out and stated that it did just that. The insurer, however, says the money they gave was for used positive ads on healthcare reform and that it has assurances that none of the funds went to the chamber.

For more information:
- check out the full National Journal article [1]
- read the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's position on reform [2]

Related Articles:
Harry and Louise are back--and pitching health reform [3]
California hospital system launches pro-reform ads [4]