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February 29, 2008
Health IT: The Governors Take Charge
As Congress moves (too) slowly on legislation to encourage adoption of health information technology, some state leaders are saying, in effect, "What's taking so long? We've made so much progress at the state level, now let's get moving in Washington."
That was a strong message left earlier this week by three governors speaking at a news conference called by Health IT Now! coalition, an event moderated by National Association of Manufacturers President John Engler.
Governors Chet Culver (D-IA), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Jim Douglas (R-VT), each outlined the widespread success of Health IT within each of their own states. Their initiatives couple public and private cooperation to bring efficiency to health care via a uniform information exchange network. In switching from paper files to digital information, the states have eased access for doctors and patients to electronic medical records, established medical information exchange via a secure network, and helped bring costs under control.
We've created a webpage with video highlights from the news conference, including links to each governor's statement. Please visit the site here. And the Health IT Now! news release is available here.
(Caption: From left, Governors Culver, Douglas and Manchin discuss health IT at a National Press Club news conference, 2/25/08.)
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 10:32 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 17, 2008
ERISA: Not an Obstacle, but the Foundation
USA Today has a front page story, "Health plans up against U.S. law" (although the online version says "Universal health care plans..."), casting ERISA as a roadblock to state and city health-care "reform" plans. The sidebar on 3A then adds business to the list of obstacles, "Businesses fight plans to ensure health care." The whole premise is off the mark.
The notion that ERISA was intended to “shield” businesses from varying rules and thus impede health care reform is ridiculous. Employers voluntarily provide quality health care to more than 100 million employees in this country. ERISA simply facilitates this process and allows employers to offer these benefits uniformly to employees who live and work in multiple states.
Erode ERISA and you eliminate the primary source of quality care for millions of Americans. How is that for appropriate reform? Complex rules and administrative constraints – which would prevail without ERISA -- make benefits less affordable for employees and their dependents.
Earlier: San Francisco Health Care: Risk and ERISA
Jeri Gillespie is vice president of Human Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 2:13 PM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
January 15, 2008
San Francisco Health Care: Risk and ERISA
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has given San Francisco the go ahead to implement its universal health care plan, approving the city ordinance that forces employers to either provide health care insurance to their employees or pay into a fund for the uninsured. A copy of the court's order is here; the case is Golden Gate Restaurant Assocation v. San Francisco.
The decision temporarily blocks a lower court's ruling that held that the city's Health Care Security Ordinance was pre-empted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, the landmark 1974 federal law that permits employers to maintain uniform benefits for their employees, regardless of where they live or work. Employers have many differing views on health care reform, but nearly all agree on ERISA's fundamental value. Without it, employers are faced with burdensome and conflicting mandates and regulations from all 50 states and thousands of local governments.
The court's ruling should provide an early indicator of what's to come in terms of "reform" on the health care front. The worry is that other cities and states might act to quickly follow San Francisco, which is just what Congress intended to avoid by passing ERISA more than 30 years ago. We can expect further litigation, potentially all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At a time when we're concerned with the growing number of uninsured in this country and access to quality health care, do we want to jeopardize a successful program that covers more than 100 million health care consumers? From an employer's perspective, ERISA is the very foundation from which health care was built and while reform is necessary, maybe we should maintain the parts of care proven to work.
Various trade associations and businesses have joined forces to preserve the federal framework embodied in ERISA. Called the National Coalition on Benefits or NCB, our goal is to spread the word about the federal framework that has been successful in encouraging employers to provide the health benefits that many Americans value. The website is www.coalitionbenefitsonbenefits.org. We view this coalition as a way for manufacturers and other employers to stick up for the ability to offer employee health-care benefits across state lines.
A thousand different San Francisco-like health care systems across the country would be impossible to manage, increase health care costs dramatically, and in the end, hurt the quality of care. Let’s prevent that unhealthy outcome by preserving ERISA.
News stories:
Jeri Gillespie is vice president of Human Resources Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.
Posted by Jeri Gillespie at 8:13 AM | Click here to comment | Send to a Friend
