As the president and congress reconvene to tackle overhauling the health care system, the Business Health Forum urges our national – and state – leaders to focus on what it is we’re trying to fix.
At last count, roughly 46 million people in the United States were uninsured – including over 800,000 Coloradans. This figure does not account for the past year’s steep increase in unemployment, causing more people to lose coverage because they cannot afford COBRA, state continuation or individual premiums.
Health insurance premiums continue to spiral upwards, far outpacing the rates of inflation and wage growth.
Employers are increasingly forced to make tough decisions regarding the level of coverage they can afford to provide employees while maintaining successful businesses, often leaving workers to choose between high out-of-pocket costs or going uncovered.
Too many individuals are being denied coverage on the individual market or face exorbitant premiums due to existing health conditions.
Families are making important tradeoffs for health coverage every day – such as sacrificing retirement and education savings.
Based on over two years of forums and dialogue with employers and community leaders throughout Colorado, the Business Health Forum believes the following principles are integral to creating meaningful reform.
A sustainable health care system will:
Strive for universal health care coverage through a requirement that everyone have health insurance, guaranteed issue of coverage regardless of health status, and maintaining the public safety net.
Provide affordable health coverage through strategies to reduce costs, waste and inefficiencies.
Promote a competitive market, offering choice of insurers, benefit plans and physicians, including the option of employer-based group coverage. One size does not fit all.
Allow portability of coverage when employees relocate or change jobs.
Create a national framework for health coverage to minimize state-level differences that impinge multi-state employers.
Promote a focus on prevention, wellness and the support of healthy lifestyles.
Encourage personal responsibility and rewards for individuals to be active in their care and health care financing.
Improve quality controls in treatment, with system rewards structured for primary care coordination, using evidence-based outcome and quality measures.
Create a transparency mechanism to access costs, efficacy, quality and medical guidelines data utilizing cost/benefit/ethical metrics.
We respectfully request policy makers keep these guiding principles in mind and continue to pursue a solution to this complex problem. Our economy and the livelihood of Colorado’s workforce are at stake.
Ralph Pollock is president and executive director for the The Business Health Forum, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the business community about health care issues and engaging employers in creating a sustainable health care system. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
