For months, President Barack Obama has said if people like the health coverage they have, they can keep it despite sweeping reforms in Washington, D.C. But the latest attempt at reform by the House breaks that promise, according to America’s Health Insurance Plans.

Following the release of the $894 billion Affordable Health Care for America Act, introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) today (Oct. 29), AHIP expressed its concern for the proposed legislation, which includes a government-run health insurance program to compete with AHIP’s private insurer members.

The bill, which is slated to reach the full House for debate in a couple of weeks, also includes individual and employer mandates, prohibitions on private insurers to deny coverage and provides subsidies to the millions of uninsured to help them acquire coverage through a health insurance exchange comprised of public plans and those offered by the government.

Karen Ignagni

In a statement, AHIP President Karen Ignagni said the organization is “concerned” the House bill breaks Obama’s promise “by increasing health care costs for families and employers across the country and significantly disrupting the quality coverage on which millions of Americans rely today.

“The lack of system-wide cost containment is a missed opportunity, she said. “Without a greater focus on health care costs, families and employers will not be able to afford coverage and health care costs will rise at a rate much faster than the overall economy is able to sustain.”

As for the proposed public option under consideration under the House bill, and also the center of ongoing debate in the Senate, Ignagni said AHIP shares concerns with doctors, hospitals, employers and patients that such an option would be a “significant disruption” on the current healthcare system.

“A new government-run plan would bankrupt hospitals, dismantle employer coverage, exacerbate cost-shifting from Medicare and Medicaid, and ultimately increase the federal deficit,” she said. “Estimates show that a government-run plan would cause millions of people to lose their current coverage.”

Ignagni added that “massive” Medicare Advantage cuts would cause millions of seniors to lose their coverage altogether while “millions more” would face a cut in benefits and higher out-of-pocket costs.

AHIP, which represents health insurers covering more than 200 million Americans, has been running ads nationwide on the issue of Medicare cuts, urging seniors to call their House and Senate representatives to advocate against the public option and other parts of proposed legislation under consideration.

While supporting “sweeping insurance market reforms and new consumer protections,” Ignagni said that “while this legislation recognizes the key linkage of market reforms and a personal coverage requirement, more needs to be done to ensure coverage is affordable and our health care system is sustainable.”