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.

SAVE THE DATE for the Public Sector HealthCare Roundtable Annual Conference - Sept. 23-25, 2009 The Public Sector HealthCare Roundtable has announced plans for its Fifth Annual Conference and Business Meeting. This important gathering will take place at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town in Alexandria, Va., from Wednesday, Sept. 23, to Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Health Care Reform Bulletin: June 19, 2009

The Congressional Budget Office dominated the health care reform discussion this week. The CBO, in preliminary estimates, projected that the reform bill proposed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on June 9 would cost $1 trillion over 10 years while producing a net expansion of coverage of just 16 million people (about a third of the number who now lack insurance). The HELP Committee began marking up the bill on June 17.

The CBO put a $1.6 trillion price tag on a proposal drafted by the Senate Finance Committee. Committee Chairman Max Baucus responded by saying that he will try to get the bill's cost under $1 trillion and will probably push the bill's timeline back a few weeks to do so. (A full proposal had been expected on the 17th with a mark-up to take place in late June.) Some details of the Finance Committee plan did emerge this week, though. It includes an individual mandate and an expansion of Medicaid and, instead of creating the government-run insurance plan that is favored by many Democrats and reviled by nearly all Republicans, it would form consumer-owned insurance cooperatives as alternatives to private insurers.

In the House, Republicans this week unveiled two reform plans. On June 16, Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., released details of his "Medical Rights and Reform Act," which would aim to expand coverage through insurance pools and tax incentives. Also, it would allow low-income families to purchase private insurance with public funds and would provide resources for health information technology reform, chronic disease management and comparative effectiveness research.

The next day, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., presented a similar plan that would lean heavily on tax credits and tax deductions, as well as insurance pools. In addition, it would expand health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts and allow Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries to apply the value of their benefits to private coverage.

Outside the government, the Bipartisan Policy Center, a private group headed by former Senate majority leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, released its recommendations for health care reform on June 17. The budget-neutral (over 10 years) plan includes an individual mandate, penalties for employers with payrolls of $1 million or more that do not offer coverage, taxes on employer-provided coverage beyond a certain premium level, prohibition of insurance denials for pre-existing conditions and state and regional health care exchanges. It does not recommend the creation of a new federal government-run insurance plan, though it does allow for the possibility of new state-run plans. In addition, the report endorses legislation to allow biogenerics to enter the market, as well as an increased commitment to health information technology reform, comparative effectiveness research and chronic disease management.

For more information, see our Health Care Reform page.

Call to Action 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. Update The Roundtable signed onto a June 16 letter to lawmakers from more than 50 organizations supporting H.R. 1427 and S. 726. The Federal Trade Commission released a report on June 9 that concluded that biogenerics would not discourage innovation.

Roundtable Update - June 15, 2009 Senate HELP Committee Unveils Health Care Reform Legislation FTC: Long Exclusivity Period for Biologics Not Needed Bill to Limit Exclusionary Agreements on Generics Advances Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute Proposed . . . more