For over a decade, intense competition in the U.S. auto industry has made it impossible for automakers to substantially raise prices. But in the health care industry, it’s been a dramatically different story.
Health Care Sticker Shock
Health care costs haven’t just increased, they’ve skyrocketed. For example, in 2000, the company's health care costs for employees, retirees and their dependents were $2 billion. By 2006, the costs had grown to $3.1 billion, a 55 percent increase in just 6 years.
Today the cost of providing health care benefits adds about $1,200 to the sticker price of every Ford car and truck built in the U.S.
This growing financial burden threatens the health of our core business because it diverts funds away from new product development and other business investments and the present rate of increase is simply unsustainable. That’s why our management is making health care system reform one of its top priorities.
Where We Stand on Health Care
We are committed to providing high-quality, affordable health care coverage for our employees, retirees and their dependents. We believe a collaboration of business, labor, consumer, medical, government and other stakeholders is the only way to successfully formulate a meaningful strategy for a system-wide reform.
Meanwhile, to encourage step-by-step improvement in the U.S. health care system, we’re actively involved in the following initiatives:
- Health Care Information Technology (HIT)—a system-wide adoption of health information technology (HIT) is one of the key enablers for managing cost and improving quality. We applaud the President, the U.S. Congress, and the State of Michigan for emphasizing the importance and promotion of system-wide adoption of HIT. Our commitment to this effort includes taking a leadership role in implementation of regional initiatives in Southeast Michigan and working with the State of Michigan in formulating strategies for the state.
- Generic prescription drugs—timely availability of generic alternatives is one of the few tools available to manage prescription drug costs, which continue to be one of the fastest growing elements of America’s health care system. Therefore, we oppose additional patent extensions and market exclusivities, and we support establishment of an approval process for generic versions of bio-engineered drugs.
- Provider accountability and transparency—we support the initiatives (government- sponsored and stakeholder-initiated) to measure and publicly report quality and efficiency of doctors and hospitals. Availability of such data will allow consumers to maximize the value of health care services they receive.
- Measures to manage cost increases—we support medical liability reform and regulations that keep the capacity of health care providers in line with demand. Conversely, we oppose measures that could lead to cost increases, such as anti-managed care laws and laws mandating employers to offer specific benefits.
- Medicare reform—we support structural improvements that increase the long-term financial viability of the Medicare program.
- Other health care initiatives—we support federal and state programs to address catastrophic health care costs and efforts to reduce the number of uninsured.
