What is California HealthCare Foundation's true mission?
What is California HealthCare Foundation's true mission?
By Don McCanne
Following is a description of the California HealthCare Foundation from their own website:
"The California HealthCare Foundation, based in Oakland, is an independent philanthropy committed to improving California's health care delivery and financing systems. Formed in 1996, our goal is to ensure that all Californians have access to affordable, quality health care.
"CHCF's work focuses on informing health policy decisions, advancing efficient business practices, improving the quality and efficiency of care delivery, and promoting informed health care and coverage decisions.
"CHCF commissions research and analysis, publishes and disseminates information, convenes stakeholders, and funds development of programs and models aimed at improving the health care delivery and financing systems."
And California HealthCare Foundation's stated mission:
"Mission statement: to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of the people of California."
Understanding the origin of California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) is important. During the decades that Blue Cross of California was a non-profit entity, it received favorable tax treatment not available to for-profit insurers. When Blue Cross of California converted to a for-profit entity, becoming a subsidiary of WellPoint, it was decided that the accrued value of the tax subsidy should not be granted gratis to the new shareholders of WellPoint, but should utilized for the benefit of Californians since this vested interest rightfully belonged to them. It was decided that this could be accomplished by establishing the California HealthCare Foundation and the California Endowment. The funds would then be used to improve the health care system in California, benefiting the underserved, and, in fact, benefiting all Californians by "improving the delivery and financing systems."
Mark D. Smith, MD, MPH, President and Chief Executive Officer of California HealthCare Foundation, has infused foundation funds into research and reports on health plans, managed care, insurance markets, MediCal and other aspects of our current system. But he has often expressed his view that a single, universal health insurance program is not an option for reform. In spite of the California Health Care Options Project study that demonstrated that single payer reform could provide affordable, comprehensive coverage for all Californians (a goal of CHCF), he seems to continue to exclude that option from CHCF activities.
Yesterday we saw an interesting example of this apparent bias. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report sends out summaries of important policy issues, published by The Advisory Board Company. One item yesterday included reference to a New York Times article on employers' concerns about health care costs, along with reference to the USA Today editorial debate on two views of controlling health care costs. It ended with my comment that we need to throw out the wasteful, ineffective health plans and spend the money on patients instead.
The items of national interest are often repeated in their entirety in California Healthline, a similar publication of the California HealthCare foundation, also published by The Advisory Board Company. The article above was no exception except for one remarkable difference. The New York Times segment was carried, but the USA Today segment on controlling costs by replacing health plans with a public program was deleted and another USA Today story on reducing costs by exercising and eating well was substituted. Is it not unreasonable to ask what happened? Why was a statement highly unfavorable for health insurers such as Blue Cross deleted?
The health care crisis in California, and, indeed, in the nation has reached proportions such that reform is mandated. This is the time to be examining all options for reform. An informed state and national discourse are essential. The California HealthCare Foundation should be front and center as a resource on policy issues. And since they are utilizing funds that originated from California taxpayers, they have an ethical obligation to be certain that their process is as open and unbiased as possible.
It is reasonable to ask a few questions.
* Does Blue Cross/WellPoint still exert any control over this process that has deliberately excluded options that would remove Blue Cross as a player in the health care system?
* Do members of the board of directors have any conflicts of interest that might cause them to fail in their ethical obligation to support the interests of Californians and their health care system?
* Does Mark Smith have either an ideological bias, or a vested interest in California health plans, especially Blue Cross, that might disqualify him from administering ethically the California HealthCare Foundation in the interests of all Californians?
* Why did The Advisory Board Company take the unusual step of changing a portion of this one article for publication in California Healthline?
* What is California HealthCare Foundation's true mission?
These and other questions I believe are quite reasonable. I don't have the answers. Perhaps those in the media receiving this message may want to try to discover the answers. If you have friends interested in investigative reporting, you may want to forward this message to them.
The rest of us must intensify our efforts to demand fairness and openness in the process. We must be sure that the reform we end up with will be in the best interests of all patients.
About CHCF: http://www.chcf.org/aboutchcf/
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report on the New York Times article on employers' health care costs, and on the USA Today debate on managing costs (requires registration): http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/print_report.cfm?DR_ID=16431&dr_c at=3
California Healthline on the New York Times article on employers' health care costs, and on a substitute USA Today article on reducing costs by exercising and eating well (requires registration, and limited to California residents): http://www.californiahealthline.org/members/basecontent.asp?contentid=48118& collectionid=3&contentarea=23810