Forum Addresses High Cost of Care

By Daniel Lee, The Indianapolis Star

Mar. 9–Here’s a massive topic for business and health-care leaders to tackle before lunch: how to curb the nation’s ever-rising cost of health care.

It seems that just about everyone speaking Wednesday at the Indiana University Business Conference had an opinion on the subject.

Some said employers could crack down on smokers by banning smoking from their properties or perhaps charging those who light up more for their health benefits.

Others said businesses providing health benefits could encourage workers to lose weight or stay fit.

Still others said businesses could make workers more involved and responsible for the health care they consume, through offering health-savings accounts or other high-deductible health plans in which patients are responsible for making more payments for their care.

But what nearly everyone agreed on was that something needs to be done to fix a health-care system that is costing Americans and their employers more and more every year.

About 1,400 people gathered at the Indiana Convention Center to hear discussion from a panel made up of the chief executives of insurers WellPoint and Humana, drug maker Eli Lilly and Co., hospital system Clarian Health Partners and appliance manufacturer Maytag Corp.

The conference also included a speech by former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

Speaker after speaker criticized the U.S. health-care system as costly and burdensome to the nation’s economy, and threw out suggestions to fix the problems. Daniel Evans, president and chief executive of Clarian Health Partners, called for increased use of technology, such as electronic medical records or computerized prescription orders, to reduce errors.

Lilly Chairman and CEO Sidney Taurel compared the spiraling cost of health care to a patient with a metabolic disorder. “Like the compulsive overeater, we as a society cannot seem to check our consumption,” he said.

As possible solutions, several speakers touted “consumer-driven plans,” in which consumers rather than insurers pay directly for more of their care through personal health-savings accounts.

Larry Glasscock, chairman, chief executive and president of Indianapolis-based WellPoint, said that people covered by such plans have been shown to be more likely to get annual checkups or ask about the cost of health-care options.

“It’s an idea of getting people to seek out health care, to find value, not just price,” agreed Michael McCallister, president and chief executive of Humana, another health insurer.

Not everyone embraced such proposals. During a question-and-answer session, two physicians said they felt left out of the discussion and questioned the effectiveness of consumer-driven health coverage.

“I find the notion of consumerism pretty much based in fantasy,” said Dr. Christopher Stack, a retired Indianapolis surgeon who is a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, a group that advocates universal health coverage through a government program.

A consumer-based approach, he said, would not work because most patients do not know their future health needs, making it difficult for them to research details on cost and quality of care for major health problems such as a heart attack or stroke.

Another physician said the current reimbursement system does not reward primary care doctors for counseling patients in healthy living. For instance, the doctor said he could make more money from removing a mole from a patient in the same amount of time it would take to talk to that person about quitting smoking.

One thing that everyone seemed to agree on is that the U.S. health-care system is expensive.

Ralph Hake, chairman and chief executive of Maytag, said his company, which has about 18,000 employees, pays approximately $6,000 a year toward each worker’s health care and has seen those costs jump 59 percent since 2000.

“Given global competition, it is an insurmountable task to absorb these kinds of increases going forward,” Hake said.

In response, Maytag has had to raise employee co-pays, consolidate the number of health plans it offers and slash retiree benefits. Those changes, Hake said, have left many workers feeling bitter or insecure.

Businesses of all sizes must be proactive in helping to reform the system, said Thompson, the former HHS secretary.

He said employers should pressure hospitals to do a better job of managing chronic diseases, which account for 75 percent to 80 percent of health costs. Thompson added that businesses that work to curb smoking and promote wellness should use those programs as bargaining chips when negotiating premium rates with insurers.

HEALTH-CARE FACTS

–Health-care premiums increased 11.2 percent in 2004 and 9.2 percent in 2005.

–In 2005, 60 percent of businesses offered coverage, down from 69 percent in 2000.

–More than 40 percent of businesses with 200 or more workers offering benefits say they are “very likely” to ask employees to pay more in premiums next year.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

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