he Commonwealth Fund's Task Force on the Future of Health Insurance formally ended work at its spring 2005 meeting. Launched in 1999, the Task Force was an independent, nonpartisan forum that explored strategies to expand and improve health insurance coverage for the under-65 population. Its members, drawn from the health care, business, labor, government, and policy research communities, collaborated to develop policy options, assess promising models for insurance expansion, and address the effects of market and policy changes on the stability, quality, and affordability of health insurance.
The mission and work of the Task Force continues under the Program on the Future of Health Insurance and is a core focus of the Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System. James J. Mongan, M.D., the president and CEO of Partners HealthCare System, Inc., who chaired the Task Force, is now heading the Commission. Former Task Force members Fernando Guerra, M.D., George Halvorson, and Sandra Shewry are members of the Commission as well.
The Program on the Future of Health Insurance envisions an efficiently run health insurance system that provides the nation's workforce with access to comprehensive, affordable health coverage. While helping to sustain a national policy focus on the growing numbers of uninsured and "underinsured" Americans, the program also identifies strategies to expand and improve coverage. Its grantees and staff accomplish these goals by: 1) tracking changes in employer-based coverage and insurance markets; 2) analyzing the effects of change on the extent and quality of coverage; 3) documenting the consequences of being uninsured and underinsured with respect to access to care, health status, productivity, and financial security; and 4) developing and analyzing strategies to expand, improve the affordability of, and increase the administrative efficiency of health insurance.
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