VP Contender Talks About Health Policy

The government should use public-private partnerships to help low-income uninsured people get coverage and use the private market to help other people, Sebelius said.

The government also should share responsibility for health care costs with employers, to help the United States maintain its global competitiveness, Sebelius said.

Executives of car manufacturers have stated “fairly compellingly” that health care costs have helped make them less competitive against car manufacturers in Japan and Korea, Sebelius said.

Also during the interview, Sebelius discussed the provision of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that preempts state regulation of employee benefit plans.

The law doesn’t work well when it comes to helping consumers with complaints or with helping them get bills paid, Sebelius said.

President Bush has tried to preempt states’ ability to regulate small group and association plans, and now Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Republican presidential nominee, is trying to expand ERISA preemption , Sebelius said.

The idea of expanding ERISA preemption is “alarming,” because preemption expansion could weaken states’ ability to protect consumers facing medical situations that, in many cases, literally involve matters of life and death, Sebelius said.

Having a continued, “timely, appropriate response is essential,” Sebelius said. “The plan advocated by Republicans would dismantle the market.”