What’s Your Position on Healthcare Reform?
When asked,” What is your position on healthcare reform?” I routinely answer, let the free market system work it’s magic through just a few incentives. I beleive that competition is the answer to the healthcare crisis. If we allow insurance to be sold across state lines and groups and associations band together to purchase healthcare, the cost will come down and providers will have to compete on quality not just price.
Second I believe that some tort reform is needed to reduce the frivolous lawsuits, thereby reducing the cost of defensive medicine.
Lastly, we need to mandate that the healthcare industry (providers and insurance companies) adopt health information technology. Card swipe technology has been used successfully in the banking industry for years, yet insurance companies are not yet required to issue card readable membership cards to their subscribers.
There is no magic bullet for healthcare, but a major overhaul is not called for. We have the best healthcare system in the world and we need to protect it from politicians who are eager to implement a single payer system and have the government run healthcare like the IRS.
Enjoy!
Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Position on Healthcare Reform
Health Care Reform Update 10.20.09
Five committees in the U.S. House and Senate have all completed work on comprehensive health care reform legislation. Now, action shifts to leadership in both chambers. Leaders in the House and Senate will decide the final version of the bill that ultimately goes forward for a final vote in each chamber.
The House
H.R. 3200 includes major health insurance reform provisions: guaranteed issuance, guaranteed renew-ability, no lifetime or annual limits on care, the elimination of pre-existing condition prohibitions, and other reforms. The bill also would create a health insurance “exchange” through which individuals could access qualified health plans.
Another crucial provision of H.R. 3200 is reform of Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula (SGR). These provisions are not perfect, but they would be meaningful steps forward—effectively preventing a 21 percent Medicare payment cut scheduled for all physicians beginning Jan. 2010.
The Senate
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced his version of health reform legislation. The “America’s Healthy Future Act” which contains many of the same provisions as H.R. 3200 related to health insurance reforms. The Finance bill includes negotiated rates as a key feature of proposed health insurance “co-ops,” rather than payments based on Medicare rates. The other health care committee in the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee finished its bill this summer. S. 1679, the “Affordable Health Choices Act,” includes a public plan that is not based on Medicare payment rates.
The Merge
Once House and Senate leaders finalize their respective health care reform bills, they must be voted on in each chamber. Then, the House and Senate must work together to reconcile any difference between their bills through a conference committee. The issue of a public plan is still not resolved, and many believe that there will be attempts to reinsert it in conference. Each body is expected to take up legislation in October.
Stay Tuned!
