Supporters of Reform Descend on Gathering of Nation's Largest Insurance Companies, Bringing Emotional Stories

(CBS)   Supporters of health-care reform descended not on the Capitol or the White House Tuesday, but Washington's Ritz-Carlton Hotel, where executives from the nation's largest insurance companies were holding an annual conference, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes.



Eleven-year-old Marcelas Owens flew to Washington from Seattle.

"No other kid should go through the pain that our family has gone through," Owens said.

His mother Tiffany lost her job and the health insurance that went with it after a prolonged illness caused her to miss work. She stopped going to the doctor and died at age 27 of pulmonary hypertension.

"She ended up passing away because she didn't have the equal rights to health care as some people with more money," Owens said.

Special Report: Health Care Reform

Inside the Ritz, attendees were well aware of the anger directed their way.

"We're never going to have a rational system in this country if we continue the way we are now," Karen Davis, president of The Commonweath Fund insurance company, told her fellow insurers during the conference.

The protesters were taking a page from the president, who has made insurers public enemy number one

"We can't have a system that works better for the insurance companies than it does for the American people," President Obama told a rally outside Philadelphia Monday.

Obama Goes After Washington, Insurers

Now insurers are pushing back. They point out that the average profit margin for health plans is 3.19 percent, compared to nearly 18.67 percent for drug companies.

They argue it's not their greed that's driving premiums up but sharp increases in the cost of hospital stays, outpatient surgery, emergency room visits and specialty drugs.

"You know this whole notion of find a villain, aim the rhetoric and go after them, but that doesn't get anybody covered," said Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans.

For anxious Democrats, health insurers are an easy target, especially when they jack up rates by 20 or 40 percent.

By Nancy Cordes
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