NAM board member Tom Easterday was quoted over the weekend in an article by the Lafayette Journal and Courier that discussed the implications of Thursday’s US Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Easterday, who is the executive vice president of Subaru of Indiana Automotive, pointed out the addition costs that employers will incur as a result of the ACA changes and the impact this will have on our global competitiveness:

“The high cost of health care, government regulations and the highest corporate income taxes among developed nations put U.S. companies at a disadvantage with companies in other countries around the world.”

It is already twenty percent more expensive to do business in the United States when compared to our largest trading partners. Unfortunately, the ACA does not lower health care costs and is just another road block that will make it more difficult for manufacturers to invest in their business and workforce.

The National Association of Manufacturers has signed on with a letter to Congress from members of Health Choices Coalition, urging legislators to overturn the ban on use of employees’ Flexible Spending Accounts for over-the-counter drugs. OTC drugs are effective and FSAs are effective, providing an important measure of consumer control over health-care spending, yet last year’s health care law limited the accounts.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association issued a release on the issue earlier this week. Excerpt:

“This issue is about empowering millions of American consumers to cost-effectively manage their families’ healthcare needs,” said CHPA Vice President of Government Affairs Bill Head. “The availability of OTC medicines through an employer-sponsored FSA provides valuable cost-savings to consumers, increases worker productivity, and encourages smart healthcare decisions by both employers and employees — all of which are consistent with the goals of healthcare reform.”

Prior to January, OTC medicines were eligible for reimbursement under FSAs and other tax-preferred savings accounts. An estimated 19 million working American families purchased these cost-effective medications through their FSAs. (continue reading…)

John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, on Thursday spoke at the Integrated Care Summit in Washington, a conference sponsored by the Care Continuum Alliance.

The Alliance recently changed its name from the Disease Management Association of America, a fact that Engler played off on as he introduced the afternoon plenary session. From his (edited) remarks:

I observe there’s another high profile name change that’s actually been under way since President Obama signed the health care bill back in March. The law, the official name is “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, maybe you have, but it has not escaped our attention that the Administration rarely now refers to the law by its full title.

At the White House website and actually in the materials from Health and Human Services, the law is called just, “The Affordable Care Act.” Some of us are a little concerned, and the jury’s still out on that: Will it be more affordable or less affordable? I think the work that we’re doing needs to be fought for and defended, because that’s how we do make it more affordable.

We certainly don’t think that we can drop the emphasis on “patient” from the policy discussion, because that prospective patient in the manufacturing world is our employee, and you want to be very focused with that employee. That prospective patient – hopefully they don’t become patient – you want them to be the priority, front and center.

At the same time, I can say for our manufacturers there is the suspicion – and I think through the provider community – that if we simply stand aside and say, well, somehow government or agencies of the government, they’re going to be the leaders in innovation or implementing integrated care, we’re bound for disappointment.

You’ve got to have the innovation, the ideas, the experience, the wisdom, if you will, from public and private employers and the health care experts who have worked with them – people who have actually put programs to work, actually run something on the ground, interacted with people on a daily basis.