ICYMI: Buchanan Presses Health Insurance CEOs on Rising Health Care Costs, Calls for Prevention and Affordability

"The U.S. Is Spending More Dollars On Health Care, And We're Getting Sicker as a Nation."

Highlights Unsustainable Health Care Spending, Consolidation and Need for Prevention-focused Care

WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Vern Buchanan, Vice Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chair of the Health Subcommittee, pressed health insurance executives on the impact of rising health care costs on patients, families and employers during a full committee hearing examining the current state of health care affordability.

Witnesses included Stephen Hemsley, Chief Executive Officer at UnitedHealth Group; David Joyner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at CVS Health; Gail Boudreaux, President and Chief Executive Officer at Elevance Health; David Cordani, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board at The Cigna Group; Paul Markovich, President and Chief Executive Officer at Ascendiun; and ReShonda Young, owner of TnK Health and Nutrition.

Click here to watch Congressman Buchanan's opening remarks.

Here's what Buchanan said about the role played by health insurers in driving costs across the health care system:

On the cost of America's broken health care system

Buchanan: "The U.S. is spending more dollars on health care, and we're getting sicker as a nation. … In fact, CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) reported last week that we spent $5.3 trillion on health care, a 7 percent increase. Our expensive health care system is reacting to illness instead of prevention. ... I really do believe that we've got to prevent things before they start."

On fee-for-service incentives and rising costs for businesses

Buchanan: "Our incentive system is backwards. … I was in business for 30 years before I got here, and one of the most critical things you can do is set up the right pay plan with your employees and everybody else. That right pay plan should be making people healthier. ... Our backward fee-for-service is set up to pay for the number of services provided, not the outcomes and the value to the patient.

"Premiums and out-of-pocket expenses have risen incredibly in businesses. ... In doing a roundtable with about 30 small businesses in our community, I wanted to see where everybody was at on various issues. ... It was unbelievable in that room, out of 30 people, how many had little or no insurance because they couldn't afford it. One couple told me they were paying $3,000 a month owning an Italian restaurant, $36,000 a year. How do those numbers work? For businesses, especially small businesses, we need to do more. It's just gotten too expensive. We must do better for the taxpayer."

On affordability and prevention being the key to bending the cost curve

Buchanan: "The best way to bend the cost curve, in my mind, is affordability, trying to get [costs] down where it's reasonable. One of the things I've always talked to people about is we've got to encourage people to be the CEOs of their own health care. … Get a physical every year in January. Start the year off right. Figure out where you're at and make some tweaks and adjustments. ... Let me just ask Mr. Joyner ... what can we do to make everything more affordable?"

David Joyner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at CVS Health: "Congressman, I am 100 % aligned with the way you think about the health care challenges today. The health status of our population is not great. The prevalence rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certainly the oncology cases that you mentioned, many of these are preventable."

In addition to being the Vice Chairman and most senior Republican on the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, Buchanan is also the Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, which has broad jurisdiction over traditional Medicare, the Medicare prescription drug benefit program and Medicare Advantage.

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