Executive Director, Federal Affairs, Public Policy Center, General Motors
Chair, Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Market
Vice Chair, Corporate Health Care Coalition


The

Annette Guarisco

public sector and the private sector could be more successful in the health care debate if they worked together, Annette Guarisco, executive director for Federal Affairs in General Motors' Public Policy Center, said.

While noting several areas in which a combined effort could work - such as expanding coverage, reforming medical liability laws and addressing high cost cases - Guarisco, who chairs the Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Market, stressed the importance of making generic prescription drugs more available.

"Every day there isn't a generic alternative on the market is a day we spend too much on drugs," she said.

Saying that biological drugs are the "drugs of the future," Guarisco stressed the importance of getting Congress to clarify the Food and Drug Administration's ability to approve generic versions of biologics.

"We need to get there sooner rather than later," she said.

Guarisco added, though, that it will not be easy to "get there."

"In Washington, it's so much easier to stop something from happening than to get it to happen," she said. "There's not just one other side. There are 50 other sides."

Guarisco's PowerPoint presentation is available here.