Nation Must "Seize the Opportunity of Our Generation" to Modernize Health Care, UnitedHealth Group President and CEO Says to Detroit Economic Club
DETROIT (April 16, 2009) – The effort to modernize our
nation’s health care system will be a “generational journey” that must
begin now, UnitedHealth Group President and CEO Stephen J. Hemsley said
in a speech today to the Detroit Economic Club. During the speech, Mr.
Hemsley commented on shifting the emphasis from reform to sustainable
and comprehensive modernization of the health care system that will
help slow the rise of medical costs and improve the quality of and
access to health care for every American.
“The escalating costs of health care cannot be attributed to one or two
items or areas in the system – it is not all doctors’ fees and hospital
rates or insurance premiums or tax policy or new drugs and diagnostic
testing. In fact, the problem is systemic,” said Mr. Hemsley.
Today, the nation spends $2.6 trillion on health care annually,
representing approximately 18 percent of the nation’s gross domestic
product. Rising health care costs limit the country’s ability to
extend coverage to more citizens, threaten the viability of our social
safety net, and negatively impact the U.S. budget and the vitality of
American industry, he said.
Mr. Hemsley added, “We find ourselves standing at a moment in time when
we finally appear to have the singular opportunity to begin to truly
modernize health care. This is the opportunity, the responsibility and
perhaps the destiny of this generation.”
He noted that “there will be those who say that it will be hard to get
all the detail of what comprehensive modernization needs to look like
into a legislative package this year – and therefore the national
reform effort should be slowed down. I, for one, don’t believe that.”
Mr. Hemsley added, “UnitedHealth Group believes that with goodwill, it
should be possible for the main stakeholders to come to a sensible
agreement on the broad outline of a pragmatic, but far-reaching set of
proposals that will help slow cost growth, improve access and raise
quality.”
Recognizing the important steps taken by President Obama and the
Congress with the passage of the economic stimulus legislation and the
targeted expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Mr.
Hemsley noted that we must “execute well on what we have recently done
and build on what is already working.”
As the country begins to address health care modernization, Mr. Hemsley
identified three, interrelated components – resources, responsibility,
and rules – that must be considered in every change that is made. “We
want to optimize health care resources and the delivery of health care
to achieve a better cost environment. We need to drive social
education and healthy lifestyle and behaviors, along with more
responsible, informed use of our expensive health care resources,” he
said. And, the legacy rules, regulations and health care policies that
currently exist must be modernized and simplified with a “view toward
overall cost optimization.”
Key leaders and partners in the modernization effort will be federal
and state governments. “Think about government as a strategic change
agent, initiating modernization efforts by setting broad, but clear
goals, timeframes and measures on critical areas for advancement. This
is combined with the years of knowledge gained by the private sector on
the elements of success and change management processes necessary to
reach these goals. This would constitute a true public-private
partnership driving toward common goals,” said Mr. Hemsley.
He concluded: “In short, my message is this: Now is the time for
comprehensive health care modernization. To expand coverage, we have
to tackle costs and quality. The good news is: We do actually know
how to do this. And at UnitedHealth Group, we are committed to sharing
these practical ideas with policy makers – on payment reform, on
strengthening primary care, on reducing health disparities, on engaging
consumers and on preventing illness.”
Mr. Hemsley’s speech to the Detroit Economic Club builds on the
foundation of six principles for health care modernization developed by
UnitedHealth Group. The principles are guiding the company’s
engagement in the national health reform debate. The principles are:
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Build upon the foundation of employer-based health coverage;
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Optimize public resources;
-
Employ progressive approaches to health care benefits;
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Modernize the way care is delivered to improve affordability and quality;
- Modernize Medicare; and,
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Make technology an enabling force for better health care.
To view the UnitedHealth Group principles for health care modernization go to:
www.unitedhealthgroup.com/publicpolicy/041609HealthReformPrinciples.pdf
To view the full text of the Detroit Economic Club speech go to:
www.unitedhealthgroup.com/publicpolicy041609HemsleyRemarksDetroit.pdf
About UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health and well-being company
dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in
Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of
products and services through six operating businesses:
UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, OptumHealth, Ingenix, and
Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth
Group serves more than 70 million individuals nationwide.
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