In many ways, U.S. health care is the envy of the world—it has helped many individuals live longer than ever and enjoy a better quality of life than previously possible. However, we continue to face the challenge of making quality health care more affordable, more accessible, and more reliable for all Americans. The Chamber is focused on promoting effective private sector solutions to our health care challenges that will help control costs, expand access, and improve the quality of care.
Our country's health care system has many strengths: tremendous medical innovation, cutting edge technology and drugs, and world-leading medical institutions. Nevertheless, there are huge variations in quality, cost, and access to care within our system. American patients are increasingly suffering from costly and often deadly chronic diseases that are many times preventable. And even though the United States pays more for health care than any other nation, we aren't getting our money's worth when you consider health outcomes and efficiency of care.
Over five years after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), further reforms are needed to achieve lower costs, innovative and high-quality care, and better health for all Americans.
The Chamber is working to achieve greater value in health care, measured by more affordable coverage options and improved access to higher-quality and prevention-oriented care. Many of these solutions are being pioneered in the private sector, as America's employers implement innovative reforms in health care and wellness. By prioritizing efforts to improve the employer-sponsored health care system--which covers millions of Americans--we will use these solutions to drive system-wide changes that can lead to better population health and sustainable health care costs.
The Chamber's health care priorities include:
Under Obamacare, millions of American workers and businesses are burdened with unaffordable costs and onerous requirements that threaten job creation and national growth. And while we’ve had some success to reform the misguided law, the fight is far from over.
Add your name to tell the Administration and the Congress to enact meaningful health care reform.
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This half-day conference on the ACA will look back over the past 6 years since the law’s enactment and priorities moving forward for future changes.
The below comment letter was submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services in response to a request for information regarding the innappropriate steering of individuals eligible for or receiving Medicare and Medicaid benefits to individual market plans. This concerning practice would be detrimental to individual consumers by disrupting care and delivery services.
September 22, 2016
High-Level Panel recommendations ignore decades of data and input of key countries
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) Executive Vice President Mark Elliot issued the following statement in response to recommendations issued by the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines:
This report provides estimates of the economic cost due to productivity losses arising from absenteeism, presenteeism and early retirement due to ill health. For Indonesia, these losses equate to a total of 6.5% of GDP in 2015 as shown in Table ES 1, increasing to 7.2% of GDP by 2030.
Two U.S. Chamber of Commerce economic experts spoke at the business federation’s annual Labor Day briefing on economic and workplace issues. Randel Johnson said the chamber would likely challenge the Department of Labor’s updated overtime regulations rule, set to go into effect in December 2016, that would extend overtime pay protections. Other topics included immigration and tax policies, as well as entitlement programs.
Health care mandates make it harder for employers to hire workers.
On August 9, 2016, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce submitted comments in response to the Internal Revenue Service's proposed rule on Expatriate Health Plans, Expatriate Health Plan Insurers, and Qualified Expatriates; Expected Benefits, Lifetime and Annual Limits; Short-Term, Limited Duration Insurance that were issued by the Department of Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
August 9, 2016
4th Annual Health Care Summit: Optimizing the Next Generation of Health Care
On October 2, 2015, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation hosted the 4th Annual Health Care Summit emphasizing the private sector’s role in optimizing the next generation of health care. The event highlighted emerging trends in the American health care system to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs.
It's time for the candidates to get back to business.
The Future of Cancer Treatment, remarks by Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Cleveland, Ohio on July 20, 2016.
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