Krishnamoorthi and Connolly Call for Hearings on Health Insurance Companies Putting Profits Before Patients

On Thursday, January 16, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) and Oversight and Reform Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-VA-11) urged their Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY-01) to conduct a hearing on commercial health insurance companies limiting access to care. This request follows a recent Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield proposal to no longer pay for anesthesia care if surgery or a medical procedure goes beyond an arbitrary time limit set by Anthem.  ASA led efforts to reverse the Anthem policy and subsequently urged federal and state lawmakers to intervene by conducting oversight hearings over Anthem and their policy – a policy that prioritizes profits over patient’s health. 

“Patients – our constituents – are concerned that they may be denied access to needed health care services because of insurers’ focus on profits over patient care,” Krishnamoorthi and Connolly wrote in the communication to their committee chair.  “Congress should question whether we can continue to count on health insurance conglomerates to police themselves and their policies. An oversight hearing would allow our Committee to fully explore this question. Immediate action is necessary to hold insurance companies accountable and to prevent others from following suit.”

“Appalling behavior by commercial health insurers has been going on for some time. Insurance companies are simply looking to drive their profits up at the expense of patients and physicians providing essential care,” Don Arnold, MD, President of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, said.

“The Illinois Society of Anesthesiologists (ISA) strongly supports congressional oversight hearing to examine commercial health insurance policies that jeopardize patient health and undermine physicians' ability to provide safe, effective care, as highlighted by the recent Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield controversy,” Jason Mitchell, MD, President of the Illinois Society of Anesthesiologists, said.

Read the press release and find a copy of the letter here.