About the Roundtable

Millions of Americans receive health care benefits as a result of their employment by state, county and local governmental units. The cost to provide this essential health care protection - to active and retired employees and to taxpayers - is increasing at an unsustainable rate.

Public sector employers - from the largest to the very smallest - are facing exactly the same challenge as America's corporations. Employer-provided health care coverage is seriously threatened by system-wide failures that require bold and meaningful action by Congress and the federal government.

The Public Sector HealthCare Roundtable is a non-partisan, member-directed grassroots coalition that has been organized to give public employers a voice in this critical national debate and to insure that the public sector isn't ignored in any federal response.

Every public employer providing health care benefits should join today.

Health Care Reform Bulletin:
January 20, 2009

Massachusetts voters may have killed the health care reform bill on Tuesday.

In a special election to fill the seat that was held by the late Ted Kennedy (and has been held by another Democrat on an interim basis since Kennedy's death in August), Republican Scott Brown upset Democrat Martha Coakley. When Brown is sworn in to the Senate - which is expected to be within a few weeks - Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the chamber.

Senate Democrats needed all 60 votes to pass their health care reform bill on Christmas Eve over unanimous GOP opposition, and they will need 60 again if a compromise bill that merges that legislation with the House version is put to a vote. Assuming Brown is seated before that vote, they will need to convince a Republican senator to defect - moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine will probably find that Democrats are being very nice to her now - or they will not be able to pass the bill.

One other option for Democratic leaders involves asking the House to pass the bill approved by the Senate with no changes, which would eliminate the need to hold another vote in the Senate. Differences between the chambers would then be worked out in budget reconciliation legislation (which cannot be filibustered). Given the significant differences between the two bills, though, it is unclear if rank-and-file House Democrats would go along with this plan. Also, some issues - most notably, the structure of health care "exchanges" that would be created by the bill and rules regarding the funding of abortions - could not be made a part of the reconciliation process.

State and Local Government News

The Lewin Group has released a study in which it concluded that health benefits for public employees and retirees would cost state and local governments an extra $61 billion over 10 years if the reform bill being considered by the Senate becomes law.

The report found that the cost of insuring state and local workers would jump by $20 billion over 10 years under the provisions of the House bill.

The increases would result primarily from governments having to either provide insurance to state and local workers who do not now have coverage or pay the penalties prescribed in the bills and, in the case of the Senate legislation, from new excise taxes on high-cost health care plans.

Despite these cost increases, state and local governments would, on the whole, save money if either bill passed, the report concluded. The Senate bill would reduce health care spending by states and localities by $83 billion over 10 years, while the House bill would produce a $24 billion decrease during that time. The savings would result almost entirely from reduced spending for "safety-net" programs - such as public hospitals and clinics - because of the fewer uninsured people who would need such resources.

For more information, see our Health Care Reform page.

Calls to Action The HealthCare Roundtable is attempting to determine more accurately the potential impact of a small number of specific proposals in the Senate reform bill on Roundtable members and other interested public plans. Please review this memo for more details and submit your responses as soon as possible. The effectiveness of our coalition is largely contingent on the engagement and responsiveness of our members and friends. We have been working for a few years to be ready to engage on those particular issues that most impact public sector health care purchasers. Your feedback regarding the issues that we've identified in this request for information will be key to our ability to engage at this critical juncture in the legislative process. Congress is considering biogenerics legislation that could produce savings of more than $100 billion over 10 years. Find out more by clicking here, then contact your senators and representatives and urge them to support H.R. 1427 and S. 726.

Roundtable Update - Dec. 15, 2009 Health Care Proponents Still Trying to Wrangle Votes Reform Bills Would Boost Insurance Costs for Public Workers, Retirees: Study . . . more