State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

2007 Leaders Emerging Issues Program

Reforming America's Health Care System: Prescriptions from the States

October 25 - 28, 2007 Baltimore, Maryland

"Overall, I can take this seminar home with me knowing realistic solutions to present, rather than put it on a shelf to collect dust."  - Hon. Thomas Deadrick, South Dakota



Legislators Focus on Health Care in Baltimore

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(Scroll down for program schedule and links to program presentations)

During the last weekend of October, legislative leaders from across the country gathered with leaders from the corporate community and experts on health care policy to discuss what the states are doing to address the growing health care crisis in America. Reforming America’s Health Care System: Prescriptions from the States featured an all-star cast of national experts, legislative leaders and program administrators facilitating lively discussions about what has worked and not worked in the states regarding health care reform.

The opening sessions set the stage with discussions of the policy and political challenges facing state leaders working to address this crisis. Martin Sellers, a health care expert that has served as a consultant to more than a third of the states led a discussion on the key issues that policy makers serious about reforming health care are likely to face. In one of the highlights of the program, Speaker Salvatore DiMasi (Massachusetts), Senator Nancy Sullivan (Maine) and Representative Steve Maier (Vermont) discussed candidly the political challenges they faced in passing and implementing the nation’s first comprehensive reforms. They noted that it is critical to engage each of the stakeholders and understand their primary concerns.

On Friday afternoon, the focus shifted to the “big three” health care issues: quality, access and cost. Randy Frankel and Traci Moorhead examined the future of quality care by focusing on the importance of wellness, chronic disease management and accurate measures of care quality. Laura Tobler of NCSL discussed the variety of ways that states are trying to expand access to quality care, especially among children and the underserved. Finally, Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change examined the sources and compared the various policy responses to rising health care costs and suggested that states are likely to employ a combination of the various approaches.

Finally, on Saturday morning, we looked at specific examples of reforms in a variety of states with different challenges and different approaches to reform. Leaders from Vermont and Massachusetts led a discussion of the challenges in building and implementing a centralized universal reform system, while administrators from North Carolina and Texas explored the challenges and responses associated with rural health care. Officials from Oklahoma and Montana talked about their efforts to assist small businesses who want to provide health insurance to retain quality employees but have difficulty doing so at an affordable price. Finally, experts from Tennessee and Indiana discussed their incremental efforts to expand coverage “one piece at a time.” Participants attended the sessions that most reflected the challenges faced in their states.

To conclude, participants heard from Jon Gabel of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Gabel left the participants with the realization that this was an issue that was not going to go away, either as policy or political problem. It is an issue that is on the mind of voters and that voters expect them to address. Further, it appears, according to the polling data, that the public is willing to make some sacrifices in terms of costs and choice (but not quality) in order to see that affordable care is made more accessible and costs contained.


Abbreviated Schedule with links to presentations

Friday, October 26, 2007
8:30 - 8:45 am  Introduction: The Challenge of Health Care Reform
(That’s What Leaders Do) 
Dr. Thomas H. Little, State Legislative Leaders Foundation

8:45 - 10:00 am Session I:  Key Components of Health Care Reform in the States (What Every Leader Needs to Know)
Dr. Martin Sellers, CEO, Sellers Feinberg

10:15 - 11:30 am Session II:  The Key Players and What They Want (Need) 
The Honorable Salvatore F. DiMasi, Speaker of the House, Massachusetts
The Honorable Nancy Sullivan, Joint Committee on Insurance and Financial Services, Maine Senate
The Honorable Steven Maier, Co-Chair, Commission on Health Care Reform, Vermont House of Representatives

12:45 - 1:45 pm Session III: The Future of Quality Care? Chronic Illness, Data and Outcome Improvement
Randolph Frankel, Vice President, External Affairs, IMS Health
Tracey Moorhead, President and CEO, DMAA:  The Care Continuum Alliance 

1:45 - 2:45 pm Session IV: Strategies for Improving Access to Health Care 
Laura Tobler, National Conference of State Legislatures

3:00 - 4:00 pm Session V: The Elephant in the Room - Cutting Costs without Cutting Quality
Paul Ginsburg, President, Center for Studying Health Systems Change

Saturday, October 27, 2007
8:30 - 9:45 am Breakout Sessions I:  A Look At State Reforms

Session A:  Comprehensive Approaches:  Massachusetts and Vermont 
Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Massachusetts
The Honorable Steven Maier, Co-Chair, Commission on Health Care Reform, Vermont House of Representatives

Session B:  The Challenge of Rural Communities:  North Carolina and Texas
Dr. Allan Dobson, former Assistant Secretary for Health Policy, North Carolina
Sylvia Rawlings, President, Texas Rural Health Association

10:00 - 11:15 am Breakout Sessions II:  A Look At State Reforms            

Session A:  Building Coverage One Piece at a Time:  Indiana and Tennessee
Seema Verma, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
Jim Shulman, Cover Tennessee Plan

Session B: Helping Small Businesses:  Oklahoma and Montana
Mike Fogarty, Chief Executive Officer, Oklahoma Health Care Authority
Lisa Crowley, Program Director, Insure Montana

11:15 - Noon Conclusion: Doing Nothing is Not an Option
Jon R. Gabel, National Opinion Research Center

* Read the SLLF's case study on Health Care Reform in Massachusetts.

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