New State Commission To Focus On Healthcare Costs

A new healthcare commission announced last week will focus on developing state-level policies aimed at reducing the cost of care while improving quality.

Called the State Health Care Cost Containment Commission, the new organization will be housed at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, a nonpartisan research institute that focuses on, among other things, public policy. It is being funded, initially, by Kaiser Permanente and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and chaired by former HHS Secretary and Utah Governor Mike Leavitt and former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.

“Most public policy transformation in the United States such as clean air, welfare reform and even healthcare for the uninsured started in the states,” said Leavitt in a January press conference announcing the commission. “States continue to be the laboratory for public policy change.”