For Immediate Release
Washington, DC – The following statement should be attributed to James Gelfand, Senior Vice President for Health Policy, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), the only national association that advocates exclusively for large employers on health, retirement, and compensation public policies at the federal, state, and local levels:
“The United States Senate last night missed an extraordinary and historic opportunity to begin fixing our nation’s broken health care system by reducing damaging taxes, empowering patients with improved consumer-driven health options, and stabilizing the individual markets, many of which may currently be in a death spiral.
The 178 million Americans who receive health insurance through their employer will now be burdened with additional taxes that will directly affect the quality and cost of their benefits. Meanwhile, some in Congress will seek to funnel tens of billions of dollars into the health exchanges, bailing out the flawed markets without making the structural changes necessary to stabilize the U.S. health system. These efforts must be resisted, and any additional funding or changes to the individual markets must be paired with commensurate broad and systemic changes that can increase competition, lower costs on the supply-side of health care, increase transparency, empower consumers and purchasers, drive value in the system, and reduce the overregulation that is bleeding both the individual and the employer sponsored health insurance markets.
Employers –who have diligently worked as innovators in the health care field improving care efficiency and effectiveness for more than 70 years –will persist to the best of their ability to make a positive impact, but their efforts will be severely hampered due to the additional taxes and rising cost of providing health care to their workforce.
ERIC will continue to work with lawmakers and the Administration as they work to improve our health care system.”