2012 Health Care Policy Statement

Click HERE for a printable PDF of the 2012 Georgia Chamber Health Care Policy Statement.

Benefit Design Freedom for Employers -- Legislative mandates increase the cost of health plans by up to 45 percent, eliminate innovation and flexibility in plan design, dissuade employers from providing this voluntary benefit and hinder employee participation. To ensure that Georgia employers can continue to be the primary providers of cost-effective and valuable health care benefits to their employees, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce supports:

• maintaining employers’ flexibility in determining how to best meet the needs of their employees and retirees;
• efforts to eliminate the many legislative mandates currently imposed on health plans and to remove artificial barriers that restrict competition.

In contrast, the Chamber opposes:

• all coverage and procedural mandates on regulated health plans and the entities that administer them;
• any federal effort to weaken or eliminate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), and any state effort to erode the ERISA protections for employer-sponsored health plans.

Coverage, Cost and Quality -- The Georgia Chamber of Commerce believes strategies to address the uninsured in Georgia must be targeted based on the diverse groups of individuals who make up the uninsured, such as those who can afford insurance but choose not to purchase it, those who cannot afford insurance without assistance, and those who are uninsurable in the individual market due to their medical condition. The Chamber supports meaningful reforms that make coverage available to more Georgians through the private sector -- rather than increasing membership in government programs -- and reduce costs and improve quality for Georgians already insured. To decrease the cost of health insurance and increase access, the Chamber supports:

• enhancing consumer-driven health plans (HSAs, HRAs, FSAs, etc.), making them more flexible and appealing to consumers and plan sponsors;
• expanding coverage options for employers and employees through a state-based health insurance exchange governed by market principles rather than restriction or duplicative regulation;
• incentives that reward health care providers based on outcomes and overall care, and that reward consumers based on prevention and wellness, with appropriate consideration for cost effectiveness;
• modernizing the civil justice system and preserving pro-business civil justice laws and reforms to reduce the rapid growth of medical liability awards and insurance costs;
• continuing elimination of fraud and waste in existing government plans such as Medicare, Medicaid or PeachCare and enabling enrollees in those programs to instead enroll in private plans;
• ensuring reimbursement when providing services financed by Medicare, Medicaid or PeachCare in order to reduce the shifting of these costs to other parties, thus reducing the cost of insurance for all Georgians; and
• full tax deductibility of health plan premiums for individuals and small businesses.

In contrast, the Chamber opposes:

• any new government-run insurance plan or exchange that may result in substantial numbers of Georgians moving from private insurance and/or shift costs to employers;
• unwarranted expansion of government plans such as Medicare, Medicaid or PeachCare;
• new direct or indirect health care taxes on employers and employees -- including taxes on insurers, on small businesses, or on employers that do not provide coverage;
• mandatory fees on private health plans and health care providers to supplement Medicare, Medicaid or PeachCare funding; and
• reducing the tax deduction for employer-sponsored health plans.

Transparency of Data (Consumers’ Right to Know) -- To improve the value employers and employees receive for every health care dollar spent, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce supports providing Georgians access to timely, accurate, appropriate, uniform and user-friendly information on the quality and cost of their health care. In order to help maximize that value, health information technology (health IT) that meets federal standards developed through public-private collaboration must be more broadly adopted.

The use of such technology, coupled with greater transparency for consumers, will result in a more competitive and efficient consumer-driven health care environment in which individuals will be able to make informed decisions about where and how to best spend their health care dollars. As additional transparency measures and health IT systems come online, it is imperative they foster Georgians’ “right to know” without sacrificing consumer privacy protections.

Trauma Care Network--Georgia’s inadequate trauma care network has resulted in the needless loss of hundreds of lives each year -- a death rate well above the national average -- posing a danger to Georgians everywhere and increasing costs for the state, its citizens and its businesses.

Because the deficiencies in Georgia’s trauma care network are primarily due to insufficient funding, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce supports legislative efforts to stabilize and enhance the network. The network should be supported either by existing government funds or additional revenue sources which are dedicated, predictable, broadly imposed and government-collected. Further, the allocation of such funds should be made in accordance with the formula established by the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission.