Health Insurers' Support of Bill Seen Wavering

Seven months ago, insurance companies vowed to be allies in President Obama's effort to revamp health care, with one industry leader later telling Congress that "health insurance reform needs to be done this year."
But as an $829 billion, 10-year health care bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee moves toward debate by the full Senate this month, the insurance industry and the Obama administration are increasingly at odds over key provisions in the bill.
Recent squabbles between the White House and the industry, which intensified over the weekend, underscore the potential pitfalls for Obama's broad plan to reshape health care. Insurers helped kill a similar effort 15 years ago with the "Harry and Louise" advertising campaign.
"The insurance industry has decided now at the eleventh hour that they don't want to go along with this," White House counselor David Axelrod said Sunday on ABC's This Week. "We have a health care system now that functions very well for the insurance industry but not well for the customers."
In March, the trade group that represents insurance companies, America's Health Insurance Plans, said insurers would stop charging sick people higher premiums and denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions. In exchange, the group asked lawmakers to require every American to buy a health policy.