Talent Management - October 2008 - (Page 29)

Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama both have ideas on how to improve the state of health care in the United States should they become the next president. But how would their proposed changes impact strategic talent management? S en. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have zeroed in on the importance of reducing health care costs as an important component of their respective health reform proposals to expand health insurance coverage. Though neither candidate has spelled out speciﬁc details — and won’t until after the new administration is up-and-running — the general contours of their approaches are pretty clear. There are some common elements in the candidates’ approaches. But the differences between the two candidates are stark. The commonalities and distinctions in the candidates’ visions of health care reform will not only affect the future of health care, insurance and beneﬁts but could have implications for talent recruitment and retention. Specifics on each candidate’s plan follow. Both candidates’ health plans will: • Expand access to affordable coverage. • Expand use of health information technology. • Emphasize wellness, prevention and disease management. • Focus on managing chronic illness through coordinated care. • Reduce medical errors, improve quality and outcomes. • Make health insurance portable. They differ in the: • Role of government vs. private market. • Role of employer coverage. • Covering the uninsured. • Use of coverage mandates. Universal Coverage and Cost Containment Some policy analysts argue universal coverage would produce savings by including everyone in the health care system and thereby reduce cost shifting and uncompensated care. McCain is a strong supporter of market-based approaches to health care reform and increasing competition in the health care sector. He advocates steps to make health care coverage more accessible and affordable for all Americans, but stops short of advocating policies aimed at reaching universal coverage, as opposed to universal access, which he does support. He has criticized the Democrats for advocating government mandates on businesses and has not endorsed a mandate for individuals to purchase coverage. As part of his strategy for cost containment, McCain believes “families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care.” He wants to encourage and expand the beneﬁts of health savings accounts for families. “When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions and often decide against unnecessary options. Health savings accounts take an important step in the direction of putting families in charge of what they pay for.” McCain also advocates greater competition among health insurers by allowing individuals in the U.S. to buy a health insurance policy from a health insurer licensed in another state, thereby expanding choices of health plans and, potentially, the ability to purchase less costly health coverage. Obama favors an approach he and others commonly refer to as “shared responsibility” that includes a larger federal government role than McCain’s proposal. Obama said, under his plan, a typical family would save up to $2,500 in health insurance premiums per year. That would partly happen by making health insurance universal, which he believes will reduce spending on uncompensated care. Obama supports a pay-or-play approach. “Employers that do not offer meaningful coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan.” The national plan would be a public plan, with beneﬁts modeled on the Federal Employees Health October 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com 29 http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - October 2008

Talent Management - October 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations The Three Pillars of Executive On-Boarding Role-Based Assessment: Thinking Inside the Box Who's Going to Speak Up for Health Care? Obey the Push to Automate Managing the Star Performer No One Wants to Work With Adopting a Mutual-Funds Model for Talent Management Hewlett-Packard: Simple Talent Management in a Technical World Team Effort Pays in Talent at London Business School The Employee Survey: What’s in It for Me? Why Most Managers Are Stuck Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.