The demand for high value health care by big corporations is real

By Colin Evans & Jacob Sattelmair, Dossia

Employer health care spending has been rising at a rate of over 9% annually, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The health legislation recently passed will expand access to health insurance, but will leave the health care system unreformed. Not only that, but challenges faced by large employers remain largely unchanged.

Employer health care spending has been rising at a rate of over 9% annually, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, threatening the global competitiveness of American corporations. Though large employers are uniquely positioned to demand better value from the health care system, they have historically been largely ineffective in doing so.

Corporations today are committed to financing an unsustainable health insurance benefit while allowing most decision making to be controlled by outside interests. They have suffered from the fact that since spiraling health care spending is no one group's fault, it's no one group's responsibility, either. However, as executives and employees increasingly assume responsibility and take concerted action to address health care spending, they are demanding a higher value, lower cost health care system that would benefit all Americans.

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