Health Insurance: California Public Employees' Alliance Has Reduced
Recent Premium Growth (Letter Report, 11/22/93, GAO/HRD-94-40).

As part of the ongoing debate over health care reform, policymakers have
been weighing the pros and cons of alternative ways to purchase care.
The administration's health care reform package and other recent reform
proposals call for purchasing cooperatives to manage competition among
health care plans.  One frequently cited example of a successful
purchasing cooperative is the California Public Employees' Retirement
System (CalPERS), which negotiates health premiums for many public
employees in California.  This report analyzes CalPERS' effectiveness in
controlling health care costs for its members.  GAO (1) examines
CalPERS' cost-containment record, (2) identifies factors that have
contributed to the trend in its premium rates, (3) assesses the impact
of CalPERS' cost-containment efforts on its members' benefits, and (4)
discusses the applicability of its Health Benefits Program as a model of
managed competition--a system under which large purchasing cooperatives
contract with a variety of competing health plans on behalf of employers
and individuals.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  HRD-94-40
     TITLE:  Health Insurance: California Public Employees' Alliance Has 
             Reduced Recent Premium Growth
      DATE:  11/22/93
   SUBJECT:  Health insurance cost control
             Insurance premiums
             Employee benefit plans
             Health maintenance organizations
             Fringe benefit costs
             State employees
             Municipal employees
             State programs
IDENTIFIER:  CalPERS Health Benefits Program (CA)
             CalPERS PERSCare Plan (CA)
             CalPERS PERSChoice Plan (CA)
             California
             National Health Care Reform Initiative
             Clinton Health Care Plan
             Health Security Act
             
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