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:
March 1, 2010

The seven-hour health care summit on Feb. 25 produced little progress toward a bipartisan reform deal, and it appears that Democrats will now try to pass a reform bill using a procedure that will minimize the number of votes necessary but could invite criticism.

GOP members of Congress who attended the summit continued to insist that Democrats should start from scratch, an argument rejected by Obama, who three days before hosting the meeting, unveiled a reform plan very similar to the bill that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve.

With the possibility of an agreement between the parties slim, Democrats are preparing to use a potentially controversial procedural maneuver to pass reform legislation. They had intended to merge the Senate bill with the legislation passed by the House in November, then have the two chambers approve the compromise version and send it to the president's desk. The recent loss of their 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority, however, has made this, essentially, impossible. Plan B will likely involve trying to have the House pass the Senate bill unchanged and using budget reconciliation legislation - which cannot be filibustered - to make changes that would bring it closer to the House bill.

Republicans have sharply criticized the planned use of reconciliation, calling it a legislative trick for which Democrats will be punished by voters in November.

Though Democratic majorities in both houses support health care reform, it is unclear if this process will succeed. Dozens of House Democrats who oppose abortion think the Senate bill's restriction on the use of federal money to pay for abortions is not strong enough and the abortion issue probably cannot be addressed in reconciliation legislation, and some Democrats have expressed wariness about using a non-traditional process to pass such a significant bill.

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 - March 1, 2010 Health Care Summit Showcases Differences; Democrats to Forge Ahead States $1 Trillion Short on Retirement Benefits: Study Obama Creates Commission to Devise Budget Plan . . . more