Dr. Gail Wilensky, Healthcare Advisor to George W. Bush, addresses Fortune 1000 Employers at Ultralink's Vision Conference
VISION 2000 Conference Explores the Future of Employee Benefits
Dr. Gail Wilensky, healthcare advisor to presidential candidate George W. Bush, addressed a group of mid-sized and Fortune 500 employers last Friday at VISION 2000, a conference organized by Costa Mesa, CA-based UltraLink. UltraLink is an employee benefits management firm offering both Web-based and full-service solutions to mid- and large-sized employers.
Having served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for Policy Development, Dr. Wilensky advised President George Bush on health and welfare issues and served as White House spokesperson on both issues. Currently the John M. Olin Senior Fellow at Project HOPE, an international health foundation, she serves as Chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission in addition to being active in Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign.
Dr. Wilensky took the opportunity to address human resources executives gathered at the two-day VISION 2000 conference in Las Vegas, the topic of which was the "Future of Employee Benefits." Dr. Wilensky stressed the need for "getting to an efficient marketplace in healthcare," where consumers are able to make more choices about their benefits. She cited the federal employees' healthcare program, a defined contribution program that covers 9 million federal workers, as an ideal of maximum consumer choice. Current obstacles keeping private employers from offering wider benefit options to employees include the steep cost of administering benefits and the
challenge of communicating complex benefit information to employees. UltraLink, developer of Web-based technology designed to drastically reduce benefit administration and communication challenges, proposes itself as an enabler of defined contribution-type programs.
VISION 2000 conference keynote speaker, healthcare economist and Princeton University professor Dr. Uwe Reinhardt, also stressed the need for market-driven change in the quality and performance of healthcare plans. Dr. Reinhardt cited Internet technology as a way to inform employees of what choices are available to them and how much coverage different plans actually provide. Internet tools that help employees make better choices about their heath benefits, he asserted, will force insurers to improve and simplify their coverage rules.
Other speakers at the VISION 2000 conference included Alexia Martin, principal consultant, and Marcia Barkley, consultant, for the Hunter Group's e-Workplace practice, who spoke about the employer's return on investment of online benefits management solutions, specifically with regard to UltraLink's technology. The conference was hosted by UltraLink and co-sponsored by best-in-class human resources technology providers, Abilizer, Authoria, Milliman & Robertson, mPower and PeopleClick. Over 200 employers representing almost 2 million employees attended VISION 2000.
About UltraLink
Headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., UltraLink provides technology and full-service solutions that reduce the pain and cost of employee benefits procurement, enrollment and administration. UltraLink serves companies with 200 or more employees and has a 10-year track record of service to Fortune 500 employers. The product of a merger between iBenefits, Inc. and UltraLink, LLC, the company brings accuracy and access to the data-driven benefits management process. UltraLink's combined proprietary technology and service offering streamlines communication and transactions between employees, employers, brokers, consultants, insurance carriers and third party administrators. For more information about UltraLink, visit www.UltraLink.com.