Maryland Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Ron Wineholt testified before the Task Force on Universal Access to Quality and Affordable Health Care last week.

The Task Force was established in 2005 to study and make recommendations on how to make quality, affordable health care accessible to all Maryland citizens. It is to report its findings to the Governor and General Assembly by the end of the year.

Wineholt encouraged the Task Force to explore a number of options that may help make health insurance more affordable for individuals and employers:

• Cost containment – The solution is not simply spending more money. The United States already spends a higher percentage of gross domestic product on health care than any other industrialized country. We need to spend health care dollars more wisely and avoid expenditures that are not medically necessary.
• Encourage consumer directed health care, with consumers knowledgeable about the cost and benefits of the health care they are consuming.
• Increased use of HSAs and similar products to provide a lower cost alternative to traditional health insurance. Note that Massachusetts will be developing “mandate lite” reduced benefit policies for individuals ages 19 to 26.
• Medical liability reform to assure access to health care and reduce defensive medicine that consumes up to 10% of health insurance premiums.
• Review insurance laws to help promote competition.
• An individual mandate for high income individuals who lack health insurance.
• Encouraging greater use of Section 125 plans by employers to enable individuals to pay for health insurance on a pre-tax basis.

You can read Wineholt’s full statement, here (pdf).