GOP stands by McKinsey study

House Republicans on Monday made clear that they’re not backing away from a controversial study that criticizes the healthcare reform law and said the White House should quit raising questions about the findings.

The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. released a survey last week that says roughly 30 percent of employers will quit offering health benefits because of new mandates under healthcare reform. The White House dismissed the study as an outlier, and it has come under fire from the left in large part because McKinsey has refused to release its methodology.

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) said Monday that McKinsey is a reputable firm with large government contracts, and that the company’s credibility should give credence to its healthcare report.

“I think the administration is wrong to discredit it because they have a record of using it, and McKinsey has a reputation,” Stearns told reporters following a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee, which he chairs.

Stearns said McKinsey’s findings are consistent with HHS’s own estimates. He cited the department’s regulations on “grandfathered” health plans, which govern the type and scope of changes that a health plan can make before it’s considered a new plan and therefore becomes subject to the new healthcare law.

According to HHS, half to two-thirds of all employer plans will likely lose their grandfathered status by 2013.

That doesn’t necessarily mean those employers will quit offering insurance — only that they can’t keep offering the exact same plans they provide now.

---