Health Care Reform: The Perils of Inaction and the Promise of Effective Action

The debate over comprehensive health care reform is at a critical juncture. Fact and fiction are becoming increasingly blurred as the debate moves into the public arena. As the sponsors and purchasers of the bulk of group health plans in America, employers will play an important role in the eventual solution. The status quo is not an option for American business, and meaningful reform must address the delivery system inefficiencies that are driving up health care costs. Expanding health insurance coverage is critically important, but simply adding more people to an ailing system and spending more money will only make the existing cost problems worse. This report makes a case for the potential benefits of health care reform if it is done wisely. The United States can reduce upward health care cost trends and expand access for most Americans if: • Health insurance coverage is expanded to as close to universal levels as we can reasonably get; • Existing sources of employer-based coverage are not disrupted or displaced or saddled with significant additional costs and compliance burdens; • Expanded coverage is accompanied by meaningful delivery system reform led by changes to Medicare; and • As expected, purchasers in the private sector adopt these reforms. The Status Quo Is a Prescription for Failure As months of Congressional and now public debate have proved, discussion of coverage provisions and financing of health care reform is complex and controversial. The debate over health care reform is increasingly being framed as a choice between the current system and the uncertainty of what reform may bring. But the comparison should be between About Hewitt Hewitt Associates is a global human resources outsourcing and consulting company, providing services to major employers in more than 30 countries and employing 23,000 associates worldwide. This report draws heavily upon the experience of Hewitt's consultants and actuaries who have extensive knowledge of—and direct experience with—the employer-sponsored health care system, the health insurance marketplace, and the emerging market trends and strategies aimed at broadening access, controlling cost, and improving the health and productivity of the U.S. workforce. Hewitt administers health plans for more than 200 large employers representing over 6.5 million participants. Hewitt created and maintains the Hewitt Health Value Initiative ™ database, which contains detailed census, cost, and plan design information for 325 large U.S. employers representing 13.1 million participants and $50.5 billion in 2009 health care spending. About Business …