The White House, seeking a Senate compromise on health care reform before Christmas, is refuting a statement by the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee that proposed legislation would be a “dream” for insurance companies.

Howard Dean

On “Good Morning America” Dec. 16, Howard Dean, a doctor and former Democratic presidential candidate, said the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would greatly assist the nation’s private health insurers.

Dean called the bill “a bigger bailout for the insurance industry than” American International Group and that “a very small number of people are going to get any insurance at all, until 2014, if the bill works.

“This is an insurance company’s dream, this bill,” Dean told host George Stephanopoulos. “This is the Washington scramble, and I think it’s ill-advised.”

In a statement hours after Dean’s appearance on the ABC program, Dan Pfeiffer, the White House’s communications director, posted a blog entry on WhiteHouse. gov indicating the opposite: that insurers are working to stop the pending legislation.

“The insurance industry has been leveraging its considerable resources in a ferocious effort to defeat this bill, including producing a report the day before the Senate Finance Committee vote that was so misleading the firm behind it had to walk away from it,” the posting read. “And that’s not surprising, because this bill will finally wrest power away from the insurance industry and put it in the hands of American consumers.”

Pfeiffer then listed several impacts on private insurers highlighted in the bill, from prohibiting denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions and new insurance exchanges to promote competition, to an annual $6.7 billion fee to ensure insurers pay “their fair share of coverage costs.

“It’s also important to remember that, while none of us are shedding any tears for the insurance industry, the primary goal of health insurance reform isn’t to punish insurers – it’s to give every American the ability to find affordable coverage while controlling the unsustainable cost growth in our current health care system that is crushing families and businesses,” he said. “On that front, this bill is hugely successful. This bill will bring stability and security to people who have insurance and provide affordable options to those who don’t.”