California Public Employees’ Retirement System

Office of Public Affairs

(916) 795-3991 • www.calpers.ca.gov

Brad Pacheco, Chief

Contact: Jeanie Esajian, Information Officer

PressRoom@calpers.ca.gov

December 10, 2009

PRESS RELEASE
CalPERS Voices Strong Support for Expanded
Cost Containment Measures in Senate Health
Care Bill
Calls on Congress to Pass Legislation that Lowers Costs,
Improves Quality
SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Public Employees’ Retirement System
(CalPERS) today expressed strong support for efforts in the U.S. Senate to
strengthen provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to improve
the health care delivery system and contain soaring medical costs.

“The amendment package introduced will go even further to streamline and

improve our health care delivery system, which means billions of dollars in
savings to private and public purchasers alike,” CalPERS Chief Executive Officer
Anne Stausboll said. “We commend the group of eleven first-term Senators for
addressing the urgent need to move aggressively to slow the growth in medical
costs.”

Next year, CalPERS is on track to spend $6 billion for health care for its active and
retired members as the second-largest purchaser of health care in the nation.

The eleven first-term Senators include: Mark Udall (D-CO), Thomas Udall (D-
NM), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Warner (D-VA), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Jeff
Merkley (D-OR), Mark Begich (D-AK), Roland Burris (D-IL), Edward Kaufman (D-
DE), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Paul Kirk (D-MA).

“The proposal, which builds on critical cost containment provisions included in the
underlying legislation thoughtfully produced by the Majority Leader, the Senate
Finance Committee, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, will mean higher quality care at a lower cost for hundreds of
thousands of active and retired public employees and their dependents,” Stausboll
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said. “The health care legislation currently being considered by the Senate is a
historic step forward in reforming our antiquated health care system. This
proposal takes us one step further to achieving that goal.”

CalPERS supports comprehensive health care legislation designed to lower costs

and improve quality and value in our nation’s health care system. The Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act will rationalize and modernize the health care
system through critical reforms, such as federal support for innovative payment
models that reward value over volume, substantial investments in prevention and
wellness, and further funding for comparative effectiveness research to empower
health care providers with cutting edge clinical information, all while expanding
coverage to over 30 million Americans.

CalPERS has more than $200 billion in assets and is the largest public pension fund
in the U.S. It administers retirement benefits for more than 1.6 million active and
retired State, public school, and local public agency employees and their families
on behalf of 2,600 California public employers, and health benefits for more than
1.3 million members.

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