Commonwealth Fund creates task force on employer-based health insurance

NEW YORK, April 4, 2024 — The Commonwealth Fund announced today the creation of a national task force to examine the changes needed to improve employees’ access to timely, affordable health care coverage. Half the U.S. population — 157 million people — rely on employer-sponsored health insurance. The Commonwealth Fund National Task Force on the Future Role of Employers in the U.S. Health System aims to build consensus on market incentives and regulatory changes needed to enhance health coverage in the workplace, ensure access to affordable health care, and improve population health and care delivery.

The nonpartisan task force is chaired by Peter Lee, J.D., senior scholar at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, and Sherry Glied, Ph.D., dean of the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. Members include a diverse group of former health industry stakeholders, experts in employer coverage, and health care thought leaders from a broad range of institutions, such as the Urban Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, Harvard University, UCLA, and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The task force is staffed by the Commonwealth Fund’s Sara Collins, Ph.D., and Lovisa Gustafsson, M.B.A.

“It’s now 14 years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act — an ideal time for this national task force to examine the challenges and opportunities employers face in ensuring their employees have access to affordable, equitable, high-quality health care coverage, no matter who they are or where they are from,” said Joseph R. Betancourt, M.D., M.P.H, president of the Commonwealth Fund. “Too often, high premiums and out-of-pocket costs deter low- and middle-income workers from enrolling in or using their employer health plans to get care. This Task Force will be laser focused on identifying policy options to tackle these barriers and strengthen workplace coverage.”

The Commonwealth Fund Task Force on the Future Role of Employers in the U.S. Health System will consider questions such as:

• What is the landscape of employer coverage in 2024? What do we know about employer premium contributions and terms of coverage, and about how consumers are faring by industry, firm size, and region?
• What are employers’ current purchasing practices and challenges do employers face in ensuring employees can get affordable coverage that allows access to timely, affordable, high-quality care?
• What are the range and type of policy proposals that might improve the affordability or quality of employer health insurance?

“The nation has made great strides in expanding coverage, but we need to be sure that the coverage most Americans get through their workplace is meeting their needs,” said Peter Lee, co-chair of the Task Force. “We hope the Task Force will help chart a path forward to ensure employers make the best purchasing and coverage decisions possible, fostering better health of those they cover and improvements in the broader health system.”

“While there have been significant changes in the nation’s health insurance landscape over the past 14 years, there has been little attention paid to the critical role that employers play, and will continue to play for the foreseeable future,” said Sherry Glied, co-chair of the Task Force.  “The Task Force will consider ways to ensure employers are effective in allocating worker compensation among wages and benefits and selecting plans that reflect the preferences of their employees.”

The national task force will meet several times in 2024. Their deliberations will culminate in the release of a first-of-its-kind blueprint for the future role of employers in the U.S. health system, including detailed findings and recommendations, in 2025.

\Additional information about the Commonwealth Fund Task Force on the Future Role of Employers in the U.S. Health System can be found at: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/about-us/employer-task-force

About the Commonwealth Fund

The mission of the Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color.

Full list of Task Force members

• (Co-chair) Peter Lee, J.D., senior scholar, Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center

• (Co-chair) Sherry Glied, Ph.D., dean, Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, New York University

• Leemore Dafny, Ph.D., Professor of Business Administration, Harvard University

• Lloyd Dean, Chief Executive Emeritus and Founding Executive, CommonSpirit Health

• Andrew Dreyfus, Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

• José Escarce, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and of Health Policy and Management, University of California, Los Angeles

• Yvette Fontenot, M.P.P., Chief Executive Officer, Impact Health Policy Partners

• Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., Director of Health Benefits Research, Employee Benefit Research Institute

• Robert Galvin, M.D., M.B.A., Former Chief Executive Officer of Equity Healthcare, The BlackStone Group

• Benedic Ippolito, Ph.D., M.S., Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

• Ken Jacobs, Co-Chair, Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California, Berkeley

• Jason Levitis, J.D., Senior Fellow, Urban Institute

• Amy Monahan, J.D., Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Melvin Steen & Cooperate Donors Professor, University of Minnesota Law School

• Barak Richman, J.D., Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School

• John Rowe, M.D., Professor of Health Policy and Aging, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

• LaJuanna Russell, M.B.A., Founder and President, Business Management Associates, Inc.

• Mark Smith, M.D., M.B.A., Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

• Sally Welborn, Executive Director Advisory Services, Employer Health Innovation Roundtable