Anthem Blue Cross president discusses health care reform

Anthem Blue Cross president Burke King spoke to our club at the Aug. 30 meeting about some of the many changes consumers and employers will face in light of the recently passed health care reform bill and what King described as the "new landscape of health care."

His presentation focused on four factors: what is new, how it will impact small businesses, how it will impact the state of Virginia and what Americans thought of the health care reform. His talk discussed the penalties individuals and businesses face if they do not obtain or provide health insurance, respectively. He also estimated that the increase in Medicaid would cost the state between $2.1 to $2.8 billion through 2022. Burke also discussed how different businesses, depending on their size, would approach providing health care for their employees such as providing it themselves, increased employee contributions or letting the new insurance exchanges offer insurance.