Paul

Paul Cotton

Cotton of AARP, JoAnn Volk of AFL-CIO and Steve Wojcik of the National Business Group on Health held a panel discussion on health care issues.

"We need real reform," Cotton said. "All of us pay the costs for the uninsured." Reform efforts, he said, should be focused on quality and pay-for-performance measures; prevention and wellness; and home care.

Volk,

JoAnn Volk

after dismissing the health savings accounts favored by President Bush as a vehicle that results in "cost-shifting, not cost savings," said reforms should lead to "smarter purchasing" if the system is to be improved.

Wojcik discussed the use of "best practices" in health care.

In

Steve Wojcik

response to a question from the audience about a Canadian-style single-payer system, Volk said her union would support it, while Cotton suggested that, "That is one way to get there, but the political reality is that it's not going to happen. We need to be pragmatic." Wojcik, meanwhile, noted that it would not be universally rejected by the business community, because, "Some large employers are looking for a government bailout."