Opportunity Costs and Opportunities Lost: Business Perspectives on Health Care

April 13, 2007, 9:30am – 11:00am

About This Event

Businesses are the backbone of the U.S. health insurance system, providing health benefits to nearly 175 million Americans. However, rising health care costs are placing a huge strain on our employer-based health insurance system. Premiums rose 87 percent between 2000 and 2006, with wages growing only by 20 percent during this period. Should trends continue, health benefit costs could exceed profits in Fortune 500 companies next year. This has caused both large and small businesses to make tough decisions between investing in their company or providing health insurance to their employees. It has also contributed to the rise in the number of un- and underinsured Americans.

To explore the dynamics of this problem, the Center for American Progress will host a discussion with academic experts and business leaders. First, Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D. of Johns Hopkins University will provide an overview of findings from her report, Opportunity Cost and Opportunities Lost: Businesses Speak Out About the US Health Care System. This paper profiles the experiences of ten businesses—from multi-national corporations to small firms—as they purchase coverage for their employees and attempt to control health care costs. Paul Fronstin from the Employee Benefit Research Institute will provide a broader perspective on the dynamics of rising health care costs and vanishing employer-based coverage. Finally, small business owner, Sheila Ogle, CEO of MRPP Media Agency will describe the challenges posed to her business by health care costs. Senator Daschle, distinguished senior fellow at the Center, will moderate the panel discussion and audience questions.

Featured Panelists:
Meena Seshamani, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
Paul Fronstin, Senior Research Associate, Employee Benefit Research Institute
Sheila Ogle, CEO, MRPP Media Agency

Moderator:
Sen. Tom Daschle, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Tom Daschle is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. Senator Daschle's work for the Center focuses on health care policy and global economic, security and health issues. Senator Daschle is also a member of the Global Alliances' steering committee, an international coalition of progressive leaders dedicated to the development and exchange of progressive policy ideas.

In addition to his work at the Center, Senator Daschle is also a visiting professor at the Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, conducting student seminars, guest lectures in classrooms, and holding public discussions related to politics and policymaking.

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978, Tom Daschle served there until 1986 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate from South Dakota. He became Minority Leader of the Senate in 1994 and Majority Leader in 2001. He was the second longest serving Democratic leader in history. Daschle now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Washington office of the law firm Alston and Bird.

Senator Daschle attended South Dakota State University and graduated in 1969. He served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command.

Meena Seshamani is a resident physician in the Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She received her B.A. with honors in business economics from Brown University in 1997, her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005, and her Ph.D. in health economics from the University of Oxford in 2003, where she was a Marshall Scholar. Her Ph.D. research on the impact of aging on health expenditures was cited by Great Britain’s Treasury Department in its health expenditure projection analyses. Dr. Seshamani has also published on the impact of Medicare reimbursement cuts on inpatient mortality. She has served as a consultant for the Gates Foundation, and is a reviewer for several medical and health policy journals.

Sheila Ogle’s career in advertising began in 1962 at WRAL television, as Assistant to the Women’s Affairs Director. In 1967, she accepted a position with J. T. Howard Advertising Agency, currently known as Howard, Merrell & Partners, the oldest full-service agency in North Carolina.  Retiring from her 20-year tenure at the agency, where her last role was as a media supervisor, Ogle began MRPP, Inc., a full-service media agency. Numerous local, regional, national, and international companies use her expertise in consulting and full-range media services.

Ogle is a leader in her community. She is a member of the Conference Table for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and a past member of the Wake County Indigent and Uninsured Commission. Ogle is a past president of the North Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and is a founding member of the Carolinas Women’s Business Enterprise Council. She is a member of the state leadership council for the National Federation of Independent Business and was named North Carolina’s Small Business Champion in 2004. Ogle was appointed by Governor Mike Easley in the spring of 2005 to serve on the Health Insurance Innovations Commission as a business representative. 

In 1999, the Small Business Administration named Ogle the North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year. She has also been recognized as one of the Triangle’s 25 most influential businesswomen. Business Leader Magazine designated her one of their “Impact 20” for 1999, and she was named one of 10 “Women Extraordinaire” in the Triangle in December, 2002.

Paul Fronstin is a senior research associate with the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to original public policy research and education on economic security and employee benefits. He is also Director of the Institute's Health Research and Education Program. He has been with EBRI since 1993. Dr. Fronstin's research interests include trends in employment-based health benefits, consumer-driven health benefits, the uninsured, retiree health benefits, employee benefits and taxation, and public opinion about health care. He currently serves on the steering committee for the Emeriti Retirement Health Program, the board of advisors for CareGain, and on the Maryland State Planning Grant Health Care Coverage Workgroup. In 2001, Dr. Fronstin served on the Institute of Medicine Subcommittee on the Status of the Uninsured. Dr. Fronstin has testified before various committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He has appeared before over 100 groups to share his expertise on employee benefits. He has also made numerous presentations for congressional staff and the media. Dr. Fronstin earned his Bachelor of Science degree from SUNY Binghamton and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Miami.