Public Policy

• What is the organization doing to influence public policy in this particular area?

An unresolved public policy issue that is affecting my organization is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  This new healthcare reform will improve the lives of 30 million Americans who do not access to preventive services and care for their chronic conditions.  This new reform forces health plans to compete based on quality, service and efficiency, not the avoidance of risk.  In order to influence public policy in this particular area, Kaiser Permanente has implemented notable provisions that will accelerate this new act into their organization.  Kaiser has implemented a small business tax credit to companies who offer health care insurance to their employees.  Kaiser has also increased their dependent age to 26 years of age, instead of 23 years of age. This allows for additional years of coverage. Kaiser has also developed no cost sharing for preventative services in newly purchased coverage. Another provision is retiree reinsurance program which provides past retirees with continued insurance. There will also be a Medicare part D two hundred and fifty dollars rebate for enrollees who have reached the gap. Kaiser has begun to recruit patients from the Medicaid program now, so that by 2014 half of uninsured patients will be from the Medicaid program. In order to plan for the future, Kaiser has begun to hire physician assistants and nurse practioners to

• Identify an industry issue that your organization is currently monitoring (one that has the potential significantly impact your sector performance within the planning horizon).

An industry issue that my organization is currently monitoring is the different components of the health care reform. Within this healthcare reform, the Secure Part D coverage for several drugs previously ruled to be “non-covered” under the Medicare Program. This policy affects how managed care facilities will have funding for the medications covered by the Medicare patients that will be become Kaiser members. Another issue that my organization is monitoring will be the reduce medicare payments to certain hospital-acquired conditions by 1%.