For Immediate Release
January 7, 2008

 

COMMON SENSE HEALTH CARE REFORM
CBIA releases new video

 

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) produced a new video, “Health Care Reform: A Common Sense Approach,” explaining the facts about health care reform in Connecticut . The video includes business and health care executives discussing the need to reform our present health care system and the potential negative impact a government-run system could have on our economy.

"Health care costs are increasingly less affordable for employers and individuals alike,” said John R. Rathgeber, CBIA president and CEO. “As costs rise, so does the number of people without health insurance. Legislators must take steps to reform our current health care system and make insurance more affordable for everyone by concentrating on three key areas: reducing the cost drivers in the system, improving the quality of health care and making certain that the uninsured have access to health care. But a state takeover isn't the answer.”

In a recent poll conducted for CBIA by Zogby International, Connecticut residents said they are satisfied with their present health insurance. And while they believe changes are necessary, they don't want a taxpayer-funded, state-government-run system.

In the CBIA video, executives echo those concerns and urge lawmakers to improve the employer-sponsored health care system and reject efforts to replace it with a government-run, taxpayer-funded system.

• Johnna Torsone, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Stamford-based Pitney Bowes, says, “With the appropriate reforms … the employer-based system, combined with government subsidies where needed … is the best way to respond to this crisis.”
  
• “A huge percentage of the increase in the cost of health care is [due to] the need for hospitals to cost-shift to private payers because of underfunded Medicaid payments from the state,” says Jennifer Jackson, president and CEO of the Connecticut Hospital Association.

• According to surveys, two-thirds of people in Connecticut have employer-sponsored health insurance. “And the surveys show they like it, so why would you want to rip that up and start with something that would be disruptive to two-thirds of the population?” asks Bob Patricelli, chairman and CEO of Women's Health USA .

• Meredith Reuben, CEO of Eastern Bag & Paper Group, commented on the estimated $17 billion annual cost of a government-run, taxpayer-funded system. “This would mean to me that we would have to increase taxes … and I'm very concerned that this would make our state economy even less competitive than it is today.”

• “We value, in our country, access, choice, customer service,” says Mickey Herbert, CEO of ConnectiCare and co-chair of the Connecticut Health Insurance Policy Council. “What you get in countries [with government-run systems] is altogether different. It's rationing. It's interminable waits. And it's really the denial of care, and frankly we would never tolerate that in this country, nor should we.”

Everyone has a stake in the outcome of the health care reform debate, notes the CBIA video. Businesspeople must be engaged in the debate and urge policymakers to keep Connecticut 's economic health in mind as well as the health of all the state's residents. Individuals must take more responsibility for their own health and lead healthier lifestyles. But any reform approach must improve the overall quality of the system, reduce its costs and make health insurance affordable for more people.

The video is available online at cbia.com/newsroom.

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For more information contact Nancy Andrews, CBIA media relations manager, at 860-244-1957 or andrewsn@cbia.com.

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