The high rollers in health care love Las Vegas, too.
Enlarge iStockphoto.com Health insurers welcome Bill Clinton, Donna Shalala, David Gergen and others as conference speakers.
iStockphoto.com Health insurers welcome Bill Clinton, Donna Shalala, David Gergen and others as conference speakers. Attacks on insurers' premium hikes and profits didn't crimp their spending on big name speakers for a conference on the Strip this week.
Who's headlining the annual leadership meeting thrown by America's Health Insurance Plans? Not Celine Dion or Barry Manilow. Try ex-President Bill Clinton. Former Senate GOP leader and transplant surgeon Bill Frist and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala are also in the parade of pricey politicos and wonks speaking.
By our estimate, the insurance group shelled out at least $250,000 for the all-star lineup.
AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach declined to say exactly how much the speakers are being paid, but he didn't dispute our calculation. "They're doing a fantastic job," he told us by phone from Ceasars Palace. Clinton "was really entertaining," Zirkelbach said.
Here's the lowdown:
Isn't it overkill, we wondered. "Now more than ever it's important that we have these types of discussions about where health care is heading," Zirkelbach said. "These are the types of discussions we need to be having and perspectives we need to be hearing about. They're the brightest minds in their field."
If it were up to us, we'd probably head for the Sgt. Pepper Live show featuring Cheap Trick at the Paris Las Vegas, just up the Strip. Tickets start at $89.25.
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