SACRAMENTO – Californians can save more than $300 billion in health spending over the next decade by building on best practices developed here in our state, finds a study released today by the New America Foundation. Many of those practices also are included in the newly approved federal health reform legislation, positioning California to be a catalyst for positive changes across the country. 

The report contains strategies that seek to rein in the growth of healthcare costs to vastly improve the value Californians get for their healthcare dollar. The 10 specific recommendations fall in four priority areas:

• Financially rewarding providers and payers for keeping people healthy;
• Significantly reducing administrative expenses that do not improve health;
• Creating meaningful insurance choices for health consumers, such as ensuring we have a robust “exchange” through which individuals and small businesses can purchase insurance, and;
• Improving the environments in which Californians work, play and socialize to encourage healthy eating habits and more active lifestyles.

The California Task Force on Affordable Care was established by the New America Foundation, with the support of Blue Shield of California Foundation, and is composed of high-level healthcare stakeholders from the hospital, physician, insurance, business and consumer sectors.  The Task Force was charged with identifying the most important actions that state regulators, legislators, insurers and providers could take to immediately control healthcare costs in California and develop innovative solutions that promote value in healthcare spending while improving patient care. 

“The mission of the New America Foundation is to advance creative solutions to complex policy issues,” said Leif Wellington Haase, director of the California Program at New America Foundation and executive director of the Task Force.  “By bringing together leaders in the field to work collaboratively and identify best practices that already exist, we were able to develop a set of recommendations that are cost-effective, beneficial and realistic.”

“We know these recommendations can be implemented in California and across the country to improve the care patients receive while bending the healthcare cost curve to make sure that care is more affordable for everyone,” said Micah Weinberg, senior research fellow at New America Foundation and staff director of the Task Force.

“The Schwarzenegger Administration is working hard to implement federal healthcare reform in a way that improves quality and reduces costs for Californians,” said Kim Belshé, Secretary of the California Department of Health and Human Services.  “The recommendations in this report can help inform the discussion about how to build and expand on efforts that are working in healthcare facilities and communities across California.”

A webcast discussion of the report’s findings, as well the full report, can be found at: http://california.newamerica.net/events/2010/making_reform_affordable

About the New America Foundation
The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States, www.newamerica.net.