Healthcare Leadership Council Applauds Legislation That Would Change CBO Scoring Rules for Preventive Health Initiatives
Change Essential, said HLC President Grealy, to Recognize Long-Term Benefits of Wellness, Disease Prevention Programs
WASHINGTON – The Healthcare Leadership Council today commended and pledged to support bipartisan legislation introduced in Congress that would change the way the Congressional Budget Office views wellness and disease prevention programs that can yield budget savings beyond the CBO’s conventional 10-year scoring window.
The Preventive Health Savings Act, introduced today by Representatives (and physicians) Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Donna Christensen (D-VI), allows CBO to analyze scientific data to provide information on the budget savings preventive health initiatives would generate beyond the 10-year budget scoring period.
HLC President Mary R. Grealy said the legislation is necessary to encourage greater federal investment in the prevention of chronic disease.
“Congress needs to see the full picture of how wellness programs improve population health and not just the initial price tag,” she said. “The fact is that a program launched today to, for example, reduce obesity and curb the escalation in diabetes cases may not display its full return on investment in ten years. We shouldn’t ignore the long-term savings to our healthcare system just because they don’t show up within an arbitrary period of time.”
Ms. Grealy said the need to invest in wellness and disease prevention is growing more urgent. The federal government, she said, needs to change its conventional approaches in order to confront a growing national healthcare crisis.
“Federal experts have told us that, if current trends continue, one of every three Americans may have diabetes by 2050. We also know that, in less than a decade, more than 150 million people in this country will have at least one chronic disease. The only way we can curb long-term cost growth in our healthcare system is by attacking this disease escalation,” she said.
She added, “Innovative programs in the workplace are teaching us more everyday about to help people modify behaviors that increase their health risks. We need to expand these successful initiatives to reach broader populations. The Burgess-Christensen legislation would remove obstacles to this essential federal investment in wellness.”
Ms. Grealy said HLC and its member companies and organizations will work actively to encourage adoption of the Preventive Health Savings Act.
The Healthcare Leadership Council is a coalition of chief executives of the nation’s leading health care companies and organizations. Follow HLC on Twitter on @HealthInFocus
