<nobr>Jun 18, 2008</nobr>

Senate Finance Holding Series of Health Reform Hearings

The Senate Finance Committee over the last two weeks held a series of hearings in a year-long effort to prepare for consideration of health care reform in 2009. On Monday, June 16, the Committee held a symposium on health care reform that featured Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, who characterized the rapid rate of health spending growth as one of the greatest economic challenges facing this country, but conceded that any reforms should preserve aspects of the current system that work.

At a June 3 hearing on "Rising Costs, Low Quality in Health Care," Senate Finance Committee Members and witnesses agreed that large-scale and comprehensive health reform of one form or another is crucial, but suggestions on the precise nature of this reform varied. The witnesses did agree that cost reductions and quality improvements are important components of reform, but quality improvements alone may not result in cost reductions.

Felicia Fields of Ford Motor Company said that it is critical to have the ability to offer and maintain uniform benefits throughout the United States. Fields testified that, "Congress understood this critical need when it enacted ERISA, which provides multi-state employers with a consistent approach to administration and design of nationwide health benefits. . . . this federal framework must be not only preserved, but strengthened where appropriate."

At a June 10 hearing on "Why the Health Care Market Place is Broken," Wake Forest Professor Mark Hall contended one of the major problems facing our system is disparate and disjointed risk pools, which need to be consolidated to mitigate the expense of 20 percent of Americans responsible for 80 percent of health spending, especially for employees of small business.

Aetna Chairman Ronald Williams argued that reform should build off the current employer-sponsored system and not dismantle it. He disagreed with Professor Hall, maintaining that risk pools do not need to be large to succeed, citing some 1,000-member risk pools that operate efficiently.

ERIC continues to work with the Senate Finance Committee and other Members of Congress advocating ERIC's New Benefit Platform as a way to address broad-based health reform.

Questions or comments on this issue should be referred to Edwina Rogers, erogers@eric.org, Joe Grundy, jgrundy@eric.org, or Rohan Beesla, rbeesla@eric.org.

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Websites:

SFC Health Symposium

June 3 Hearing Information

June 10 Hearing Information

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