It was standing room only at the state hearing in San Francisco on transparency in health care costs earlier this month.
In 2015, we fought and won legislation, SB 546, which requires insurance companies to be transparent with the State of California on how they set their rates, and to provide aggregate data on cost factors, quality and usage. The California Department of Managed Health Care held its first ever hearing mandated by SB 546.
Because Local 21 challenged the rate increase proposed by Kaiser to the City of San Francisco a few years ago, the union was invited to present testimony on the importance of access to data.
“If we are to effectively control rising healthcare costs, local governments deserve access to the underlying data behind proposed rate hikes,” said Bob Muscat, Local 21 Executive Director.
Oftentimes local governments and other large purchasers of health insurance negotiate with limited data about actual use and costs, quality, and other critical factors. This makes it challenging to get the best deal for employees and efficient use of tax dollars.
