HELENA– The 11th Annual HealthCare Forum, presented by the Montana Chamber Foundation, delved into several topics including the cost of healthcare and price transparency.
One of the featured guests was Montana Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale. Rosendale spoke about the cost of prescription drugs from a consumer standpoint and talked about the importance of the interim committee that is studying healthcare price transparency.
“If you walk into many facilities and you say, ‘How much does a certain procedure cost?’ the answer you get is how, ‘How are you going to pay for it?,” Rosendale said. “Then they determine how much it’s going to cost. That does not give us the ability to really drill down and establish for folks how much their healthcare cost is.”
Rosendale said prescription drug prices are continuing to increase at an alarming rate and that generic medicine prices have increased as well.
Another panel featured Sen. Ed Buttrey, Sen. Mary Caferro, Rep. Kathy Kelker and Rep. Dennis Lenz. The state legislators talked about the outcome of the 2017 Montana Special Session and spoke again about transparency.
“We have to have a discussion on what transparency is,” Buttrey said. “….What does the executive think is transparency? What do you think is transparency?”
Other speakers included the American Medical Association President Elect Barbara L. McAneny, Attorney General Tim Fox and Brian Klepper with Worksite Health Advisors.
Webb Brown, president/CEO of the Montana Chamber, said the HealthCare Forum Conference plays an important role in the Montana Chamber’s ten-year strategic plan, Envision 2026, when it comes to its business climate objective.
“We’re focused on not only the cost of healthcare, but the quality of healthcare,” said Brown. “This conference addressed many of these questions and reconfirmed the importance to keep engaged on these issues.”
The Montana Chamber of Commerce will host Business Days at the Capitol Jan. 10-11. For more information, email Stacye Dorrington at [email protected].
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For Immediate Release
Nov. 16, 2017
Media Contact: Communications Director Alexandria Klapmeier
(C) 406-437-4634 or [email protected]