We face an economic and humanitarian imperative to reform health care in our state because too many people lack health insurance, costs are escalating rapidly, incentives are misaligned, and the system is unfair. These problems are linked and cannot be addressed in isolation, but rather must be solved comprehensively. If not, the broken and unsustainable system will ultimately threaten our economic competitiveness as a state and nation.. 

SALT LAKE CITY- (August 19, 2009) The Salt Lake Chamber became the first small business to enroll in the Utah Health Exchange today as the program officially launched at the State Capitol.  “We’ve been a major proponent of the Utah Health Exchange from the beginning,” said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber who sat at the computer and enrolled the organization. “We want to lead by example.” The web-based Utah Health Exchange (www.exchange.utah.gov)will serve as a single shopping point allowing consumers to evaluate their health insurance options and purchase the coverage that is right for them. Premium payments are made with pre-tax dollars, reducing an employer’s FICA costs. Employees may also pool contributions from multiple sources (such as a spouse who works part time) and purchase coverage together.  Full Story

Statement of Principles:

 Fix a Broken System: Although Utah’s health care system is among the most efficient in the nation, we can improve. We applaud the Utah legislature and the Governor for making health system reform a top state priority and pledge our full support for the process.

 Contain Costs: We view ever-escalating costs as the reason that there are so many uninsured. We must focus reforms on long-term cost containment.

 Reform Based on Market Principles: We support the creation of a health system reform strategic plan for the state of Utah that will apply the principles of the private market to contain costs, strengthen the Utah economy and improve lives.

 Accountability: We believe that Utah’s strategic plan must expand accountability at all levels of the health system—patients, providers, purchasers, payers and political leaders. By so doing, every Utahn will take more personal responsibility for their health and we can realign the system to be more consumer-driven.

Public Policy Priorities:

 Internet Portal: Create an internet portal that allows contributions from multiple sources to be utilized for the purchase of insurance. This is the first step in transitioning from an employer-sponsored defined benefit plan to an individual-centered, defined contribution system, which will incentivize prudent utilization and reward people who make healthy lifestyle choices. 

 Eliminate Waste: We advocate immediate and bold legislative action to create insurance products that are portable from job to job while exposing the shifting of costs that takes place in the current health system. This will create efficiency and eliminate waste. We also endorse public policies that protect medical providers who use best practices from unreasonable jury awards and that require all insurance policies to be purchased with pre-tax dollars.

 Transform incentives: Health system reform must empower consumers with information about cost and quality of health services, which will enable consumers to control costs. The Chamber supports legislation that will increase transparency in our health system. 

 Insurer and Broker Disclosures: Require insurers to disclose the percentage of claims paid and percentage of adverse benefit determinations that were subsequently overturned. We also endorse legislation that requires insurers and brokers to disclose commission compensation paid to brokers.

 Utah NetCare Basic Health Plan: Create an affordable benefit package that will cover preventive, primary and emergency care. We also support including healthy lifestyle and wellness incentives in this basic plan. Although defining a basic benefit is complicated and difficult, it is an important step in achieving health care coverage for all Utah residents. 

 Extend Compassion: Programs to provide care for those in need should be preserved and strengthened. 

Recent Accomplishments

 Signed Business Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: In an unprecedented show of support and unity, the Salt Lake Chamber united the business community and created and signed the Health System Reform Business Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. This document includes a vision for a health system that will contain costs, strengthen the economy and enable people to live healthier, more productive lives. Employers and organizations representing approximately 500,000 jobs in Utah, or nearly half of Utah’s workforce, have endorsed this vision. 

 Passage of House Bill 133: Entering the 2008 legislative session, the Salt Lake Chamber identified health reform as a top priority. Throughout the session, Chamber leaders worked diligently with legislators and championed HB 133, which outlined a process to achieve comprehensive health system reform.

 Led Business Stakeholder Group: HB 133 created five stakeholder groups to provide insight to the reform process. The Chamber, in conjunction with other business associations, led the business stakeholder group.

 Bringing Experts to Utah: Understanding that the best minds are needed to successfully reform Utah’s health system, the Chamber recruited and hosted prominent health reform experts. Guests included Senator Bob Bennett, Len Nichols of New America Foundation, Dennis Smith and Ed Haiselmeyer of the Heritage Foundation and Karen Ignagni of America’s Health Insurance Plans.

 Providing industry insight through Rump Group: The Salt Lake Chamber Health System Reform Rump Group, composed of health care industry experts, is providing insight to law makers regarding specific reform recommendations such as creating a robust portal and an affordable basic insurance product.

Impact on Business

Utah’s current health system is unsustainable, as market incentives have become distorted and personal accountability is virtually nonexistent. The result is skyrocketing health care costs. Consider the following:

 Compared to just nine years ago, Utah employers are paying 100 percent more for the health care benefits they provide to their employees.

 Health care expenditures in Utah total $9.6 billion each year. This astronomically high number is growing at an unsustainable rate of 8 percent annually.

 57 percent of Utahns are insured through employment based health plans. 

 Of those Utahns who are insured, 79 percent are insured through their employer or union—nearly 1.8 million Utahns. 

 On average, employers contribute 76 percent of the cost of health insurance to employees enrolled in employment sponsored family plans. This contribution exceeds $8,000 per employee.

 Increases in health premiums are crippling businesses’ ability to provide health insurance. Experts estimate that American workers have given most or all of their pay increases to the health system for the past eight years. And businesses are dropping health insurance benefits in Utah faster than any other state, falling from 57 percent as recently as 1998 to 44 percent today. 

 From 2004-2006 Utah’s uninsured ranks swelled by 5 percent, a full 4 percent more than the national average.