Study Reveals 'Health Care Value Gap,' Underscores Need for Reform

WHAT:

Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies, will release the first annual Business Roundtable Health Care Value Comparability Study. The Study measures the value (cost and performance) of the U.S. health care system relative to the systems of our global competitors.

WHO:

Harold McGraw III
Chairman, Business Roundtable
Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill Companies

Ivan Seidenberg
Chair, Business Roundtable Consumer Health and Retirement Initiative
Chairman and CEO, Verizon Communications

WHEN:

Thursday, March 12, 2009
11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. EDT

WHERE:

To dial in to the teleconference briefing:
Dial-in number: 1-888-946-7796; Password: Business Roundtable

Callers will be asked for their name and media outlet. If you encounter any problems, please call Joe Crea at (202) 680-2770.

FORMAT:

Mr. McGraw and Mr. Seidenberg will give a brief overview of the study results and then respond to questions.

Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with more than $5 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and pay nearly half of all corporate income taxes paid to the federal government. Annually, they return $133 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy.

Business Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with more than $70 billion in annual research and development spending - more than a third of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.

Department of Health, UK