4 Perspectives on What Financial Leaders Must Do Next

From a former U.S. Comptroller: Former Comptroller General of the United States and CEO of the Government Accountability Office for over 10 years, David Walker believes the ACA "is not affordable and it is not sustainable." Many financial leaders in the audience nodded in agreement with this statement. But that doesn't mean that healthcare reform in some capacity isn't needed, Walker notes.

"We have to recapture control of the budget, including healthcare," the keynote speaker told a packed audience at the conference. "We must find a way to make healthcare more appropriate, affordable, and sustainable. Given the nation's rising debt load and the cost of healthcare, we must do so quickly—by the end of 2013."

Difficult decisions will need to be made in the coming years, and healthcare leaders should be prepared. "Understand the federal government is going to have to have a budget for what it spends on health care," Walker said. Along with individuals taking responsibility for and monitoring their own healthcare spending, he espouses a universal plan that includes preventive care, wellness, and catastrophic care which is financed through the government and the private sector.