The CEO of the nation's second-largest health insurance company has endorsed a plan by House Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare — urging legislators to move "as quickly as possible" because the "time to act is now."
Joseph Swedish, chief executive of Anthem Inc., said in a letter Thursday that the proposal "addresses the challenges immediately facing the individual market and will ensure more affordable health plan choices for consumers in the short term," Politico reports.
Swedish wrote the letter to the chairs of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees.
The support from Anthem, based in Indianapolis, comes after numerous healthcare industry groups attacked the GOP proposal — including the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association.
Anthem is seeking approval from the Trump administration to acquire Cigna for $54 billion.
Cigna is the largest insurer in the Obamacare exchanges. The company has warned that it would pull out of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces in 2018 should improvements not be made, Politico reports.
The Republican plan, introduced Tuesday, would repeal Obamacare's individual coverage mandate and replace it with a penalty for allowing coverage to lapse.
It also would end fines on people who do not carry health insurance — and the proposal is expected to cover fewer than the 20 million people insured under President Barack Obama's original plan.
President Trump has endorsed the GOP proposal.
According to Politico, Anthem backed the Republican plan to repeal Obamacare's health insurance tax, to temporarily continue the cost-sharing subsidies — and to allow customers to receive tax credits from the Obamacare exchanges.
"These provisions are essential and must be finalized quickly to have the intended impact on products and prices to benefit consumers," Swedish said.
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