Insurance industry officials will gather in Washington this week to discuss the biggest political, legal, legislative and regulatory issues their companies face at the local level.
America's Health Insurance Plans, the main insurance advocacy group, which spent $11.5 million on lobbying last year, will host its annual state health issues conference Thursday and Friday. About two dozen speakers will talk about the potential impact of the state healthcare ballot initiatives, the midterm elections, major legal rulings, Medicaid expansion, drug costs, telehealth and other matters.
Among the speakers during the gathering is Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who so far has unsuccessfully pushed his state's Republican-led Legislature to expand Medicaid to low-income adults. Like hospitals, managed-care insurers stand to benefit financially from Medicaid expansion, which would add about 400,000 Virginians to the rolls, mostly in private health plans.
