Health-care forum will focus on changes at state level

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson recently held a discussion with area business leaders about the Healthy Americans Act, a proposal that would provide health care for Americans without health insurance. Now Sen. Jason Crowell is seeing what could be done on the state level.

Crowell will facilitate a forum about health-care reform from 3 to 5 p.m. June 7 at the Glenn Auditorium in Dempster Hall on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

The forum will be hosted by the Missouri Research Corporation and Providers Assuring Rehabilitation Efficacy.

"I applaud and support and will work with Emerson and the federal legislature," Crowell said. "I also think it's incumbent upon us as a state to see what we could do as far as changing rules or getting out of people's way so small employers have the same opportunity that large employers have."

Crowell said small businesses need "portable insurance" much like the 401k retirement plan, where employees would still be insured if they switched professions.

Rita Needham of the Southwest Area Manufacturers Association will be the main speaker at the meeting, discussing a model health care consortium formed in Southwest Missouri that resulted in a change to Missouri law.

Crowell said that small employers were able to pool together to get the same rates as larger employers and saw a 25 to 35 percent reduction in their health care costs, plus increased productivity in their business operations.

The other speaker at the event is John Kraemer of the Southeast Center for Environmental Analysis, who will discuss how an asthma education program he designed has saved the local region over a half million dollars in health care costs.

"The meeting is to see if we can benchmark what the speakers have done throughout the state," said Steve McPheeters, communications superintendent with Noranda Aluminum, who will help Crowell facilitate.

One of the keys to reducing health-care costs is to focus on preventing disease rather than treating it, Crowell said.

He said a visit to the emergency room is only an expensive and poorly designed means of universal health care and employees need to be educated on the benefits of having primary physicians and seeing them on a regular basis.

After the presentations, attendees will have a chance to bring up issues like controlling rising health-care costs, climbing insurance rates, the cost burden on large and small businesses, the impact on global competition and needed legislation.

"We're interested in talking to employers to find out what kind of challenges they face and discuss what they see as the real issues," said Christy LeGrand, projects coordinator for the Missouri Research Corporation.

The event is free and open to the public. Business leaders, human resource directors, health-care employers and providers, health insurance representatives, and government and agency employees are encouraged to go.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137