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BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE
CYNTHIA A. FISHER
To reduce health care costs, private sector employers must demand that health care providers reveal their hidden pricing – all of it.
B U S I N E S S R O U N DTA B L E S H O U L D D E M A N D H E A LT H C A R E P R I C E T R A N S PA R E N C Y
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Should Demand Health Care Price Transparency
By Cynthia A. Fisher
FOUNDER AND BOARD MEMBER, PATIENT RIGHTS ADVOCATE
In October, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon asking him how he plans to implement the Business Roundtable’s (BRT) new “stakeholder” mission. The BRT, which Dimon chairs, recently announced it is extending the focus of corporations from shareholders to employees, customers, suppliers and communities. Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, asked that Dimon endorse her Accountable Capitalism Act, which places a slew of new corporate governance regulations on businesses. Originally published in U.S. News & World Report. Reprinted with permission. 14
While we think Warren's legislation is flawed, her underlying request for tangible examples of the BRT's updated corporate vision is welcome. Instead of playing more politics, however, the BRT should leverage its 181 members, who collectively employ 15 million workers, to fix the biggest problem facing American businesses and the public: health care costs. According to a new report by Kaiser Health, the average employer-provided health care costs exceeded $20,000 per family this year – 54 percent more than in 2009. The U.S. now spends nearly 20% of its GDP on healthcare, about double the developed-world average. BRT members collectively spend hundreds of billions of dollars on employee health care expenses each year. Businesses nationwide spend nearly $1 trillion on health care to cover 181 million Americans. To have the biggest impact on reducing health care prices, the BRT must require price transparency from health care providers, insurance companies and third-party administrators (TPAs). The Trump Administration recently issued an executive order requiring hospitals and insurers to reveal their hidden prices. But for this information to be transparent, widely available and patient-friendly, private sector employers must demand it. Real price transparency, which can be achieved through existing laws, is the easiest and least controversial fix to the country's health ShopHealth | Vol. 2 | Issue 3
