2008-11-19 23:50:01 -

www.businessroundtable.org - Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications and chair of Business Roundtable"s Consumer Health and Retirement Initiative, today presented a plan for revitalizing America"s health care system at the Senate Finance Committee"s first post-election hearing on health care reform.
"Rampant cost increases in the medical system mean we"re paying

more for less value. Health care costs are inhibiting job creation and damaging our ability to compete in global markets," Seidenberg said. "We believe health care reform should be addressed now as we work our way through these difficult financial times."
As providers of health coverage to nearly 35 million Americans, Business Roundtable member companies play a significant role in helping American workers and their families obtain medical care. In September, Business Roundtable released its plan for health care reform, which would make health care more efficient, restructure a fragmented insurance market and reinforce the employer-based health care system"where most Americans currently receive benefits.
Seidenberg applauded Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley for focusing on the issue of health care reform in the context of current economic difficulties, and explained Business Roundtable"s plan contains a number of reforms aimed at providing more affordable health insurance options for all.
Business Roundtable"s health care policy plan has four pillars:
- Creating Greater Consumer Value in the health care marketplace by using health IT and empowering consumers with more information about good, quality health care.
- Providing More Affordable Health Insurance Options for All Americans by creating an open, all-inclusive private market for health insurance, replacing today"s highly fragmented, state-by-state market with multi-state markets. This would create more choices for more health care consumers through broader, more competitive markets.
- Placing an Obligation on All Americans to Obtain Health Insurance, either through their employer or the private market. Americans would also be encouraged to participate in employer or community-based prevention and chronic care programs.
- Offering Health Coverage and Assistance to Low-Income, Uninsured Americans, creating a stable and secure public safety net. This assistance would be financed from the cost savings and efficiencies generated by a more competitive and value-driven health care system.
"Business Roundtable believes any real solution to health care reform must emerge from the uniquely American principles that drive our economy: competition, innovation, choice and a marketplace that serves everyone," Seidenberg said. "While we may differ on specifics of how to achieve our objectives, Business Roundtable stands united with this committee in our commitment to finding solutions to the American health care challenge now."
The full Business Roundtable plan can be viewed at: cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww ..
Business Roundtable (cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww ..) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Collectively, they returned $114 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2006.


Business Roundtable

Kirk Monroe, 202-496-3269