Employer-Driven Health Care: Opportunities for Change

During the annual budget debate, Congress and state legislatures continued their advocacy and lobbying efforts to advance health care reform. Employers, manufacturers, providers, and consum­er advocates descended upon statehouses and Congress to draw attention to problems in US health care economics. In response to such advocacy and proposed governmental program inter­ventions emanating from new budgets, commercially insured populations have discussed potential strategies with government officials to address these issues.

Despite these efforts, reform outcomes have been uneven, and common issues remain, including the following: employ­ers do not have complete access to claims data from their plan; pricing and claim cost transparency remain mired in supply chain...