Health Care Reform - the Safeway

One cannot miss the buzz about the proposed government insurance plan in the news. In fact, somehow a bill is supposed to be finalized in July but CBO (the Congressional Budget Office) estimates one version of the bill will cost more than $1.6 million over a ten year period. There are at least three different versions right now being worked on but bottom line, it is hard to figure out how to pay for it.

The CEO of Safeway, Steve Burd, testified before Congress about the successful reduction of health care costs by using innovate ideas. Over the last four years Safeway’s health care expenses remained flat so with consideration to inflation, it is fair to say they have had a reduction. They accomplished this by creating health savings accounts (HSAs) for employees, rewarding healthy behavior and covering lots of preventative and primary care visits as well as diagnostic testing. The Wall Street Journal link to the article is below.

Yes, we need to change “the system” but it would be great if we had personal investment in using the system more wisely and maintaining freedom of choice for the patient / consumer. A government insurance plan does not support those ideals.

Here’s the link: http://www.online.wsj.com/article/SB124536722522229323.html