Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), today kicked off the health insurance trade group's annual meeting, Institute 2012, by warning attendees that would have to stay in a state of suspense.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not post its decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) this morning, as some had hoped it might, and AHIP members will likely be waiting at least until Monday, and possibly until next Thursday, to see the ruling, which could help, block or reshape PPACA implementations in ways that will affect the insurers' operations for decades to come.
Several attendees tweeted enthusiastically about how much they enjoyed a panel discussion on the fall elections featuring former Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer and former Clinton administration advisor Paul Begala.
But election watchers will not have any clear idea of how to think about the races, let alone what the results might be, until the Supreme Court rules on PPACA.
PPACA also dominated the Institute 2011 meeting, which took place in San Francisco and attracted protesters who threw pink glitter.
AHIP, Washington, is holding this year's meeting in Salt Lake City, and some of the 3,000 or so attendees might soothe themselves by going to take a look at Utah's Great Salt Lake.
Dr. Norman Gordon of Alere Inc., Atlanta, is at the meeting to talk about the need for plans to do a better job of connecting with patients to improve the quality of their care and lower the cost, under any set of regulatory rules.
Lindsay Resnick, chief arketing officer for health services at KBM Group, Richardson, Texas, a health marketing data analysis firm, is in Salt Lake City to discuss the need for health insurers to do a better job of reaching out to and attracting individual health insurance customers no matter what happens with PPACA.