New leader of employer health group talks drug costs and improving access to mental health care – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Health care costs keep growing and employers see it front-and-center. In September, the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the average cost of family coverage in employer health plans now exceeds $20,000. The concerns have prompted some employers to consider cutting out middlemen by contracting for services directly with health care providers. It is a trend not lost on Mamie Segall, a longtime health care executive named this month as president of the Bloomington-based Minnesota Health Action Group. The organization developed an innovative plan called Choice Plus in the 1990s that allowed large employers to pool their purchasing power when buying health insurance. Segall wonders if something similar might work with drug coverage.

Q: You are originally from Wisconsin and went to law school in Boston. What brought you to the Twin Cities?

A: I moved to Minnesota to go to work for Attorney General Skip Humphrey. In the AGs office, I spent seven years prosecuting white collar health care fraud, also abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults. Toward the end of my tenure in the AGs office, I led health policy initiatives.

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New leader of employer health group talks drug costs and improving access to mental health care - Minneapolis Star Tribune