Health Insurance Coverage Roundtable Meetings

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A series of four roundtables, which took place between January 2005 and June 2006, brought together policy analysts, advocates, and experts from government, hospitals and other health care providers, and health plans to focus on specific topics related to increasing health insurance coverage. The four roundtables were on the following themes:
• Expanding Employer-Sponsored Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges in Mandated Coverage
• Options for Increasing Affordability of Coverage through Public Subsidies
• Individual Mandates and Public Program Simplification
• State Health Care Reform: Lessons from Massachusetts and Options for New York

Following are synopses and highlights of the four roundtables:
Expanding Employer-Sponsored Coverage: Opportunities and Challenges in Mandated Coverage
On January 21, 2005, the Fund hosted a roundtable to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with mandatory approaches to expanding employer-sponsored coverage in New York State. The meeting opened with an overview of characteristics of uninsured workers in New York by Danielle Holahan of the United Hospital Fund, followed by a presentation by Dr. Patricia Butler, an independent consultant and a leading authority on health law and policy, regarding restrictions on state employer mandates due to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the potential for implementing an alternative employer ‘pay-or-play' policy. In addition, a number of national, state, and local experts participated in a discussion that addressed other states' experiences with employer mandates, employer and employee perspectives on mandating employer coverage, and the question of who ultimately bears the costs of employer mandates. Roundtable discussants included Vince Ashton of HealthPass, Susan Cowell of the 32 BJ Benefit Fund, Alan Weil of the National Academy for State Health Policy, Rick Curtis of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, and Sara Collins of The Commonwealth Fund. See highlights of this meeting.

Options for Increasing Affordability of Coverage through Public Subsidies
The Fund convened a second coverage roundtable on October 25, 2005, to examine options for increasing the affordability of health insurance coverage in New York State through public subsidies. The roundtable featured presentations and discussions of reinsurance, employer buy-ins to public health insurance programs, and tax credits for health insurance coverage, as well as high-deductible health plans and health savings accounts. James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund, opened the roundtable with a presentation on the cost of coverage in New York, followed by presentations and discussion of potential policy options for increasing affordability of coverage by national experts, including Kathy Swartz of the Harvard School of Public Health, Deborah Chollet of the Mathematica Policy Research, Jack Meyer, formerly of the Economic and Social Research Institute, and Gary Claxton of the Kaiser Family Foundation. See highlights of this meeting.

Individual Mandates and Program Simplification
On December 12, 2005, the Fund hosted the third roundtable, which addressed the potential for an individual mandate and simplification of public health insurance programs to expand health insurance coverage in New York. Public program simplification is thought to be a necessary precursor to an individual mandate. The roundtable featured presentations by experts on these topics, including Alan Weil of the National Academy for State Health Policy; Timothy Murphy of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services; Sherry Glied of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; Donna Cohen Ross of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Stan Dorn, formerly of the Economic and Social Research Institute. James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund, concluded the roundtable with a review of lessons learned about different approaches to expanding health insurance coverage from the first three coverage roundtables. See highlights of this meeting.

State Health Care Reform: Lessons from Massachusetts and Options for New York
The fourth roundtable, held on June 9, 2006, examined the Massachusetts state health care reform plan enacted in the spring of 2006 and its implications for health reform in New York. Nancy Turnbull of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation and Alan Weil of the National Academy for State Health Policy, experts who have worked closely with the Massachusetts plan, discussed its key features and highlighted issues that will determine its success. Danielle Holahan and Elise Hubert of the United Hospital Fund also gave presentations on design questions involved with state health care reform and important differences between New York and Massachusetts that are relevant to the reform discussion. In addition, Peter Newell of the New York State Assembly Insurance Committee and Vince Ashton of HealthPass discussed the significance of the Massachusetts plan, explored policy options for New York, and provided perspective on the possibilities and limitations for health reform in New York. See highlights of this meeting.

Information from these meetings ultimately informed the creation of the landmark report A Blueprint for Universal Health Insurance Coverage in New York, which was published in December 2006.

Copyright: 2006
Published: 12.16.2006