Humana has said for a long time that it will take bipartisan solutions and cooperation to solve our nation's health care crisis. Today's Supreme Court ruling doesn't change this. Americans deserve affordable, quality health care. As the federal health reform law continues to be enacted, Humana continues to focus on helping people achieve lifelong well-being .

While the law contains many common-sense protections for consumers, it does little to address the health system’s major problem: costs are too high and they’re rising too fast. The law also has a health insurance premium tax, beginning in 2014, that will unfairly drive up costs for small businesses and many seniors. As Humana continues implementing the law, we intend to work with individuals, health care providers and the government to produce better health outcomes and lower costs.

To truly make coverage more affordable, all parts of our health care system must do more to create value, eliminate waste, encourage effective care and promote health. We must:

• Align incentives to reward value. Instead of paying providers based on the volume of health care services delivered, we must pay for performance and create incentives to achieve high-quality outcomes at lower cost.
• Root out waste, fraud and abuse in our system. Unnecessary procedures, prescription drug abuse and fraud drive up health care costs by billions of dollars each year.
• Eliminate needless and costly variation in care delivery. To get the most for our health care dollar, we must ensure widespread adoption of medical best practices.
• Attack costly underlying public health problems. Obesity, inactivity and smoking contribute to an epidemic of preventable chronic conditions.
• Apply technology to improve care. Connect the system, reduce errors and eliminate redundancy.

Looking ahead

Humana is committed to helping build a sustainable future for American health care. And, we're not waiting. We’re advancing ideas and collaborating with doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to advance quality and enhance health outcomes, promote prevention and wellness, help patients and physicians fight chronic conditions and reduce unnecessary costs and services. In short, Humana is delivering innovative approaches that are both good for people and good for our health care system.