Stakeholders Present Cost Containment Framework to President Obama
AHIP Federal News Bulletin, http://ahip.org
On May 11, President Obama met with a group of stakeholders to discuss a framework for health care cost containment that was presented to him by representatives of AHIP, the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed).
In a letter addressed to the President, these six organizations stated: “As restructuring takes hold and the population’s health improves over the coming decade, we will do our part to achieve your Administration’s goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate – saving $2 trillion or more. This represents more than a 20% reduction in the projected rate of growth.” The letter further emphasized that the stakeholders “are developing consensus proposals to reduce the rate of increase in future health and insurance costs through changes made in all sectors of the health care system.”
Following the White House meeting, the President described the discussion as “extraordinarily productive” and “a watershed event in the long and elusive quest for health care reform.” Speaking of the stakeholder efforts, the President stated that “what they’re doing is complementary to and is going to be completely compatible with a strong, aggressive effort to move health care reform through here in Washington with an ultimate result of saving health care costs for families, businesses and the government.”
In a June 12 letter addressed to the stakeholders, the President asked the six organizations to update his Administration “by early June on the progress you have made toward fulfilling this important commitment.” An AHIP statement can be found by clicking here.
Earlier today, the six stakeholder organizations issued the following joint statement reaffirming their commitment to help bring down health care costs:
“We are committed to working together to bend the health care cost curve. Health care reform will not be sustainable unless the nation brings down the rate of growth of health care spending. We are committed to doing our part to make reform sustainable and to make the system more affordable and effective for patients and purchasers.
“Our organizations are currently engaged in an intensive process to develop proposals to reduce the rate of increase in future health care costs. And to be successful, we must take action in public-private partnership. We look forward to offering cost-savings recommendations in the weeks ahead.”
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