“We have demonstrated that empowered health care workers deliver higher quality care at a more affordable cost—and in so doing, create the value that provides for industry-leading wages, benefits and quality of work life. Our model serves to inspire the movement for affordable, high-quality universal health care.”—Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions

A few years ago, our union coalition which represents more than 90,000 Kaiser Permanente employees, adopted this as our “legacy statement.” We believe that, as opposed to a mission statement, a legacy statement provides not just inspiration but also deep accountability for the changes we want to see.

If we take ourselves seriously, we should be thinking about what it is we will want to tell our children and grandchildren about what we accomplished in our work lives. What responsibilities did we take on? What problems did we see? What did we actually do to solve them? 

They will want to know.

Living in challenging times

We have lived through a period of profound change in our society. Indeed, the majority of the people in the U.S. today live without security; they live with greater and greater risk.

• What are the chances of getting a really good job today?
• What is the cost of safe and comfortable housing?
• What is the cost of higher education?
• What is the cost of health care?
• How does one plan for a secure retirement?
• What are the conditions our children face in getting a great start in life?

Solving the health care crisis

We cannot solve all of these problems. We can commit to being part of the solution of one of the biggest problems that drives inequity in our economy: the cost of health care!

Indeed, with the cost of care consuming 17 percent of our gross domestic product and growing each year, the nation will have a harder and harder time providing care and having the resources left to invest in rebuilding our social and physical infrastructure. Today the average cost of health insurance for a family is more than $15,000 a year. With median family income around $50,000, the cost of health care prevents savings and increases personal debt.

The best place to work, the best place to make change

At Kaiser Permanente, the employees have the best place to work in the health care industry: we have the best wages and benefits. We also have the opportunity to have our voices heard and to contribute on every day to the improvement of quality, safety and service to the people we serve.

Our legacy statement sets a high bar. We aim to maintain and improve our best-in-class jobs while showing the way for universal health care. It will not be possible to have sustainable good jobs, nor to provide high quality, equitable care for all people unless we create more value in our day-to-day work.

Through our commitment to continuously improve a program that cares for nearly 9 million people, we can show the nation what can and must be done. We must work together to reduce and better manage chronic conditions in our members and patients. We must work every day to reduce readmissions and errors that cost millions and cause unnecessary discomfort. We must eliminate waste, redundancy and workarounds. We must show that all of this improvement work rolls up to huge savings.

Yes, we are committed to the day when we can tell our kids what we accomplished!

They will ask!