Report Finds Fault With Health Insurance

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Herrick agreed that the central issue is whether people have a right to health care. "There are arguments about affordability and accessibility, but the underlying argument is how much right do I have to health care, and does that right guarantee me just a low level of access," he said.

Another critic of the new report thinks it does little to contribute to the overall debate about health insurance in the United States.

"It has no credibility," said Greg Scandlen, founder of Consumers for Health Care Choices, a group that supports private health insurance. "They found 45 unfortunates to interview, and that has no significance whatsoever for public policy. This tells you nothing about the 160 million people in the country who have private coverage."

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But Gail Shearer, director of Health Policy Analysis at Consumers Union, said the report does contribute useful information to the debate over private health insurance's role in providing universal health care.

"The report points the way to some recommendations that make sense," Shearer said. "The report speaks to the need to fix the regulation of the private health insurance market before we turn to that market as part of the solution to the crisis in health care coverage.

"This report gets to the question of: 'Is this country ready to think about a system where everybody has a guarantee to health care?' " Shearer said. "That is the ultimate question."

A representative of the health insurance industry also took exception to the report.

"The industry recognizes that the costs of care continue to rise, and there needs to be more done to improve the availability of health care coverage in America," said Mohit M. Ghose, vice president of public Affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry lobbing group.

"Unfortunately, we have an attitude in this country that any problem that occurs in the health-care system can be put at the foot of health insurance companies or health insurance plans," Ghose said. "We need to get beyond that discussion."

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