US lawmakers press health insurance executives on affordability

By Ahmed Aboulenein and Amina Niasse

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Executives from leading U.S. health insurers sought to deflect blame for rising costs for consumers during a congressional hearing on Thursday, as lawmakers accused their companies of practices that reduce competition and lead to soaring premiums.

Insurance executives from CVS Health CVS.N, Cigna CI.N, UnitedHealth UNH.N and Elevance ELV.N were called to testify as millions of Americans face dramatic hikes in their Obamacare insurance costs following the expiration of special COVID-era tax credits.

Some lawmakers pointed to industry integration in which a company manages multiple stages of the healthcare supply chain, as a trend keeping prices high. CVS, for example, runs a health insurer, a pharmacy benefit manager and a national retail pharmacy chain.

“Market power is concentrated, competition is weakened, independent providers are squeezed out, and families are forced to pay more,” said U.S. Congresswoman Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

UnitedHealth CEO Steve Hemsley said the company's mission is to keep people healthy and maintain affordability.

"The cost of healthcare insurance fundamentally reflects the cost of healthcare itself," he said, adding that achieving the company's goals, "means being candid about why healthcare costs continue to rise."

Republican lawmakers said the companies and former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act were responsible for rising premiums and health costs, while Democrats said a failure to extend federal subsidies was responsible.

"You have people whose premiums have doubled, tripled because of the Republicans' inaction on premium tax credits," said Frank Pallone, a Democratic representative from New Jersey and ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Annual premiums for U.S. families with employer-sponsored health insurance in 2025 rose 6% to nearly $27,000, according to a survey by health-policy organization KFF. Medical costs have risen more than 7% in recent years, U.S. government data shows.

President Donald Trump has said he does not want to reinstate the Obamacare subsidies and instead pitched direct payments to consumers shopping for health insurance that could be put into a health savings account. Affordability is seen as a key issue in this year's elections that will decide control of Congress.

In written testimony for the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, UnitedHealth said on Wednesday the company would provide rebates to customers enrolled in its Obamacare plans for 2026.