SUPREME COURT RULING RETURNS FOCUS TO CONTROLLING COSTS AND IMPROVING HEALTH

In a statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the federal Affordable Care Act, Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman said: “Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court frees us to focus on the state-based details of fixing our broken healthcare system The next step is to use the tools available at a state level to reduce costs for businesses and consumers, make the system more efficient, transparent and understandable, and improve the quality of care for everyone.”

“Fixing our broken healthcare system is an economic imperative,” Wunderman continued. “Our current healthcare costs put us at a distinct economic disadvantage with our global competitors that we can’t afford as we work to lift ourselves out of recession. The Bay Area Council is focused on achieving market-based solutions that will drive greater efficiencies in the delivery of health care, control costs for businesses and consumers, and improve the value we get from our healthcare system.”

Under the legal framework provided by the Affordable Care Act, the Bay Area Council has been at the forefront of ensuring that changes to our healthcare system are implemented in a way that works for California businesses.  Last year, the Council issued a Roadmap to a High Value Health System that laid out the key priorities for promoting quality and affordability and recently issued a separate study on The Economic Impact of the Affordable Care Act on California. The study concluded that implementing the federal legislation will create almost 100,000 jobs in California and boost economic activity by $4.4 billion.

“The Council is working to ensure that any fixes we make fairly spreads the burden of healthcare responsibility and costs across all those who have a stake in the system,” Wunderman said. “A healthcare system that shifts a disproportionate share of costs to businesses and employers is ultimately unfair and unsustainable and will irreparably harm our economy and our ability to compete globally.”

Through that lens, the Council has been deeply involved in developing California’s Health Benefit Exchange, a new marketplace authorized by the Affordable Care Act for private insurance that aims to make health coverage more affordable and accessible for all, and provide greater transparency for businesses and consumers to make informed choices about their healthcare purchases. “We need greater focus on controlling costs, increasing the value we get from our healthcare system, and improving public health,” said Micah Weinberg, senior policy advisor for the Bay Area Council. “If we’re not working to provide more value, make the system more efficient and transparent, we’re focused on the wrong things.”