Employers, not government, should blow the whistle

There are several important lessons to learn from the Anthem saga and their premium increases. Most importantly, there does need to be answer as to why the premiums are going up by 39 percent. The government does not need to step in to find out, the true purchasers of health care do: the plan-sponsor (employer).

For years I have been working with companies across the country helping them better understand their true utilization, cost and risk of health care for their workforce and how they can use that data to hold insurance companies accountable. The very fact that the government is asking this question publicly is good evidence to suggest that there is a fundamental lack of understanding in terms of true market dynamics in health care and who really controls the purse-strings. It is not the insurance companies that control the market, nor should they. They are merely administrators of a health plan and bear no financial insurance which is very different from an auto insurance company. The President has called for a summit on Feb 25th to give it one more shot but the simply rounding up more people from Congress and hoping that a miracle will happen is time wasted. We can hold down premiums and improve care by using technology to empower the purchaser with the right data.

By Sreedhar Potarazu  |  February 17, 2010; 11:14 AM ET Save & Share:                 
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