Former HHS Secretary Thompson Says Health Care Costs Hurting Businesses

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Jun 2008 - 6:00 PST

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Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday said the next president and Congress will have to address the U.S. health care system because health care costs are hurting businesses and Medicare is approaching insolvency, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Thompson, a former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Wisconsin who now serves as the independent chair of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, spoke at a meeting organized by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Thompson said promoting electronic health records and prescriptions, as well as creating tax incentives and insurance pools to make insurance more affordable, would help control costs. He also said that better prevention and management of chronic diseases would generate large savings, noting that while 20% of U.S. residents have a chronic disease, their care accounts for 80% of U.S. health care spending. He said employers should ban workers from smoking cigarettes and encourage better eating habits by increasing prices of unhealthy foods in company cafeterias, for example.

Marlene Henkin, special assistant to the secretary of the Pennsylvania Health Department, said workplace wellness programs could reduce employer health costs by at least 25%. Smokers miss an average of 6.5 more days annually than nonsmokers and spend 8% of their working hours on "smoking rituals," according to Henkin. Overall, they cost $10,000 more annually in lost productivity and medical costs than nonsmokers, she said.

Thompson said Democrats' approach to health care is to implement "more government control," adding, "I think Democrats are doing too much." However, Republicans' view that strengthening free enterprise will lower costs is not "doing enough," he said (Burling, Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/18).

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