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Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was found guilty early Saturday morning…
Updated: Friday, 27 Feb 2009, 7:15 PM EST
Published : Friday, 27 Feb 2009, 4:53 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - President Obama said his healthcare plan will help all Americans get health coverage. But two of Indiana's largest employers are giving it bad reviews.
Both Eli Lilly and Wellpoint said, while they applaud healthcare reform, it could end up costing them and Indiana hundreds of millions of dollars. And in the end, that could mean job cuts.
"There are parts of the president's proposal that we believe harm innovation, harm patient care and really harm the economic vitality of Central Indiana," said Ed Sagebiel of Eli Lilly.
Among other things, the president's plan would cut what the government pays drug makers for their products, reduce which insurers can actually offer Medicare programs and also dictate how much hospitals can charge for inpatient care and readmissions.
The plan is also striking out with Wellpoint, which reportedly has an issue about how it would affect how it administers its Medicare Advantage program for seniors.
A Wellpoint spokesperson said, "We applaud and share his goals...However, we believe that a significant portion of his proposed savings will come at the expense of high quality, high value health care coverage for millions of Americas seniors. We will continue to work with Congress and the administration on health reform..."
University of Indianapolis' Matt Will agrees the plan has drawbacks.
"Well, it's definitely going to hurt the profits of Lilly and Wellpoint. They may very well end up laying off people at some point because their profits will be reduced. As the government starts taking more control of the healthcare industry, you're gonna see either a shift toward government employees running healthcare mechanisms or government mandating or controlling companies to such a degree that they really are in essence units of the government," said Will.
Lilly said the plan would also affect its connections with some
3,000 vendors across the state. It's part of the president's $3.6
trillion budget. The plan still has to be approved by Congress.
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