PA Chamber business advocacy: Healthcare policy

Employers and employees continue to struggle with the rising costs of health care. However, efforts to control costs must also take into account the affect on quality and accessibility of health care delivery in Pennsylvania. Balancing cost, quality and accessibility within the health care system remains a challenge for all stakeholders in the process, including government, insurers, providers, purchasers and consumers.

On behalf of purchasers and consumers of health care, the Chamber believes a private health care delivery system must be encouraged as a means to provide all Pennsylvanians with appropriate access to cost-effective, quality health care. As in any business, competition among health insurance companies and health care providers impacts the cost of health care premiums. With real competition, employers and employees should have a greater choice of health plans, enabling them to select an appropriate health plan and provider. Further, through appropriate planning, competition among providers should assure Pennsylvanians have adequate access to health care facilities.

Quite often, new opportunities for a stronger, more effective health care system surface elsewhere. State government should not hinder Pennsylvania's competitive position relative to other regions and should capitalize on emerging concepts whenever possible. In particular, Pennsylvania should support, not restrict, alternative delivery models, including advances in technology that are designed to enhance cost-effective treatment and management of health care.

Employers should not permit other stakeholders to alter the health care delivery system or payment system without business input. Similarly, employers must find ways to assist employees to make the right decisions in seeking health care. An active employer community will help facilitate cost-effective accessibility to quality health care for employees.

On behalf of employers, the Chamber supports the following concepts:

• Best practices for health insurers and providers that help eliminate excessive and unnecessary costs and insure the deliver of the highest quality of outcomes;

• Quality measures for the health care industry that are based on verifiable clinical standards;

• A cost/benefit analysis of existing mandates (any mandate in which the cost outweighs the benefit should be repealed);

• Utilization of the best available technology (such as electronic prescription systems) as a means to reduce the cost of treatment, improve clinical outcomes;

• Legal reforms based on fairness, common sense and personal responsibility that will allow for a stable and predictable insurance system for providers;

• Wellness programs designed to prevent costly medical treatments;

• New options in the marketplace that provide for ongoing and/or greater access to health care coverage, particularly for the smaller employers that are least likely to have the resources to provide employee health care benefits under the current system, and;

• Improvements to the Department of Health's licensure process for health care facilities that assure appropriate balance between cost, access and quality.

• Shifting a disproportionate share of the funding for the cost of health care to the business community by all stakeholders, including government;

• State interference in the administration of ERISA and self-insured plans, and;

• The expansion of mandated benefits, unless sufficient evidence exists demonstrating that the benefits of the mandate clearly outweigh its costs.