Dutch, Swiss Execs Discuss Health Care Reform At Briefing

America's Health Insurance Plans and Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., held a briefing with a number of health insurance industry executives from the Netherlands and Switzerland to discuss proposals to expand coverage to all residents through the private sector, CQ HealthBeat reports. Under health care systems in the Netherlands and Switzerland, residents must obtain health insurance through the private sector, and the government provides subsidies to lower-income residents. Kaiser CEO George Halvorson said that "it makes a huge amount of sense for us to understand what is going on in Europe."

AHIP President Karen Ignagni said that "there is confusion between 'universal coverage' and 'government-run,'" adding that "we are fully committed to the concept of universal coverage" (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 10/31). Willem van Duin -- executive board member of Eureko, a health insurer in the Netherlands -- said that the nation had the ability to implement health care reform because "politicians, providers, insurers" reached a consensus on the issue (Appleby, USA Today, 11/1).

Daniel Schmutz -- CFO of Helsana, the largest health insurer in Switzerland -- said that divisions in the U.S. might not allow for such a consensus. Van Duin added that residents in the Netherlands and Switzerland have more willingness than those in the U.S. to pay the taxes necessary to finance government subsidies for health insurance (CQ HealthBeat, 10/31). In addition, according to Schmutz, enforcement of a requirement that all residents obtain health insurance might prove difficult in the U.S. He said, "To Swiss people ... it's highly accepted that the state has a central role in private life."

Next week, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt will visit Switzerland and the Netherlands to examine their health care systems (USA Today, 11/1).

Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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