We continue to be active in the formation of public policy. Safeway CEO Steve Burd has taken his healthcare message to the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and directly to President Barack Obama. The message is simple—to reduce healthcare costs we must create a true retail healthcare market with price and quality transparency and an environment of personal accountability for healthy behavior, while encouraging consumers to take a more active role and more responsibility for their own health.
During 2009, we also created a new company, Safeway Health. Safeway Health applies the innovations developed at Safeway Inc., and works with clients to achieve the same results – keeping all-inclusive per capita healthcare coats flat for five years, while simultaneously enhancing the healthcare benefit. We are currently in discussion with several large private sector organizations and unions, and also several states and municipal employee groups. With Safeway Health, major corporations can reduce their healthcare costs, increase their competitive position in a global market and enhance their own employee benefit and compensation packages. Public sector clients can do the same – and also resolve some of their current severe budgetary challenges.
Safeway pursues healthcare reform based on market principles through the Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform (CAHR) – a group of over 60 companies and employers committed to solving the nation’s healthcare crisis. CAHR calls for a market-based healthcare system and universal coverage for all Americans with increased individual responsibility for healthy behavior, financial assistance that enables low-income individual to obtain health insurance, incentives to encourage healthy behavior, and equal tax treatment for all who purchase healthcare, whether through their employer or individually. Safeway CEO and CAHR Chairman Steve Burd founded this coalition and is one of its most vocal leaders.
