The chairman of the Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee has asked the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to investigate health insurance industry lobbying, especially the TV advertisements of America’s Health Insurance Plans, on national health care reform.

Tony DeLuca

State Rep. Tony DeLuca (D-Allegheny) sent a letter to Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario, asking him to investigate AHIP’s $1 million advertising campaign suggesting that Medicare Advantage benefits will be drastically cut under proposed health care reform.

DeLuca said in his letter that the advertisements are designed to scare retirees and derail health-care reform and they should be removed from the airwaves.

“I share President Obama’s opinion that the ads embrace ‘worst-case scenarios’ and they are bogus,” DeLuca said in a stateent. “The insurance industry is purposely targeting our vulnerable citizens with distorted advertisements and should be investigated by the Insurance Department.”

Ario’s office has received the letter, but will does not have the authority to investigate, because Medicare Advantage is federally regulated, said Melissa Fox, PID’s deputy press secretary.

Fox said the commissioner “agrees that health insurance companies should not be scaring seniors” and is looking into whether the department has any authority over the matter.

AHIP, which represents about 1,200 health plans covering more than 20 million people, has been criticized by President Barack Obama and Democrats in the last few weeks for its study, prepared by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, suggesting that current health care reform proposals could increase the cost of health insurance for the typical family by as much as $20,000 betweemn 2010 and 2019.

DeLuca also requested Ario’s office investigate AHIP-member company Humana Inc. on whether the company sent deceptive materials to Pennsylvania senior citizens, in violation of state policy. Humana was cited by the federal Department of Health and Human Services for sending deceptive mailers to 900,000 seniors that said if the proposed Medicare Advantage cuts became law, millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of their benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.

DeLuca said he has “every reason to believe that the advertisements are being funded by insurance premiums paid by policyholders to the industry.”