(CNSNews.com) - Senate Commerce Chairman John D. Rockefeller (D-W.V.) told CNSNews.com that America needs a government-run health insurance provider that does not need to make a profit and that will compete with private health insurance companies because private insurance company profits have increased by 400 percent since 2001.

“I mean, they (health insurance companies) are making so much money it is just ridiculous,” Rockefeller told CNSNews.com.

Rockefeller’s source for saying that insurance profits have gone up 400% since 2001 is Health Care for America Now (HCAN), Rockefeller’s office told CNSNews.com.



HCAN is an advocacy group that gets funding and direction from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and Moveon.org.

“Let them go at it. Okay?” Rockefeller said, referring to the prospect of private insurance companies competing with a government run provider. “But insurance companies could use the competition. I’m not even sure that there isn’t collusion between the insurance companies. I can’t say that there is, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest bit if that went on.

“Here you go,” he said, looking at a sheet of paper handed to him by an aide. “Insurance companies have seen their profits soar by over 400 percent since 2001 when premiums of consumers have doubled,” Rockefeller said. 

“That’s not what you want in a health care system. Insurance companies can take care of themselves. Remember, they insure a lot of other things besides health care.”
 
Jacki Schechner, the national communications director of HCAN, said its steering committee members fund the organization and direct its activities. Organizations must donate at least $500,000 to HCAN to be a member of their steering committee.

“If you agree with our Statement of Common Purpose, you are welcome to join the coalition,” she told CNSNews.com in a statement. “The Steering Committee makes a significant financial commitment.”

HCAN published a report, “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses,” that concluded that “profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies in 2007 rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, from $2.4 billion to $12.9 billion, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.”

Sen. Rockefeller’s press secretary Rebecca Bale confirmed to CNSNews.com that HCAN was the source for Sen Rockefeller’s statement that insurance company profits had increased by more than 400% since 2001.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used a similar statistic recently, but his office did not respond to inquiries from CNSNews.com asking what Reid’s source was.

“There is no business in America that makes more money than the insurance industry--over the last 10 years their profits have been increased by 450 percent,” Reid said during a July 30 press conference on health care reform. “So, I’m not really in very much of a mood to worry about the insurance industry.” America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP),
a group that represents health insurance companies, disagrees with HCAN’s findings. According to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for AAHP, health plans had an average profit margin of 3% in 2007. American Hospital Association data suggests that profit margin increases have not exceeded 3.5% annually since 1990.

Rockefeller also told CNSNews.com that since the “public option” will not be required to seek a profit, it will force private health insurance companies to “re-think” how much they charge.

CNSNews.com asked Rockefeller the following: “One of the main concerns of the opposition is that over time choice will be limited because if the public option is the more affordable option it will put private insurance companies out of business over time. So, there will be no option over time. People could lose their insurance that they are happy with under their employer.”

Rockefeller responded: “No, because they don’t--No, that’s the whole point. If they are happy--158 million people have insurance through their employer. If they are happy with that coverage, they get to keep it. If the public option offers them the same coverage at a lower price, but their just for whatever, you know, generational reasons or just a sense of comfort, they want to stay with their employer’s plan, they do that. They do that,” Rockefeller said.
 
“There’s no forcing here,” he said. “It is just an option amongst other options but it does have the advantage of not having to make any profit at all. So, to your answer that it will cause insurance companies to re-think how much they charge is entirely correct and I think entirely desirable.”

CNSNews.com asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office what the source is for his claim health insurance profits increased 450 percent but they did not respond.