Employers plan unified effort on quality, access.(Employer-Sponsored Coverage, affordable health insurance coverage, uninsured workers, retirees, and dependents)

Publication: Medicine & Health

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Around 50 big employers May 10 announced an initiative to create affordable coverage options for workers, retirees, and dependents who are affiliated with the companies but ineligible to receive group coverage from them. The group of Fortune 500 companies also will try to put the full clout of their employer-sponsored health plan memberships behind quality-improvement efforts through new regional purchasing groups.

In the national access initiative, the companies have agreed to pool their affiliated uninsured workers and dependents into a single coverage group, with a potential total membership of around 4 million if all individuals were to participate, the employers estimate. The companies will...

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