Health Care Reform Our health care system costs too much, doesn’t cover enough people, and incentivizes inefficiencies. Reform must expand access, reduce the overall amount of money we spend on health care, and promote quality of care over quantity. In order to succeed, real reform must be built on these three pillars, without which we will not be able to provide sustainable universal access. With these concerns in mind, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is simply known as the health care reform law. This piece of legislation is by no means a cure all, but it gives us a good opportunity to begin to rein in excessive costs, improve quality of care, and expand access. In the months and years ahead, we will have to adjust these policies and monitor how they are implemented. One of the most challenging aspects will be keeping costs under control, and we will have to diligently enforce the implementation of programs designed to meet this goal. For instance, the bill contains a number of opportunities for meaningful changes to our inefficient fee-for-service system, but we must follow through and ensure these changes are aggressively implemented. This bill will cover an estimated 30 million additional Americans and save more than $1 trillion in the long-term. The law will enhance the quality of healthcare for those on Medicare and disallow health insurance providers from denying individuals coverage based on preexisting conditions. It would close the Medicare drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole” and allow recent college graduates to stay on their parent’s health insurance plan. These are huge steps forward in the reform process. This legislation makes several good steps in reforming both how we deliver and pay for health care in this country. The numbers demonstrate that this bill will not only help reduce costs in the short-term, but also help bend the long-term cost curve. It begins to shift away from the failed fee-for-service model that encourages high levels of utilization regardless of the quality of that care and instead encourages accountable care organizations (ACOs), which emphasize overall quality of care over the sheer number of visits, tests, and referrals. The reforms include a number of proposals from both sides of the aisle, such as portability, which allows insurance companies to sell insurance over state lines. It also encourages employers to provide incentives for their employees to manage controllable health factors known to lead to long-term health issues. These incentives will help create an overall healthier society, and encourage individuals to control their own health care costs. Among these steps were two studies to be conducted by the Institutes of Medicine looking at both the geographical factors that lead to legitimate differences in payment rates and the quality of care that is delivered. I am hopeful that the results of these studies and changes made in the health care reform bill will lead to a more fair and equitable reimbursement system for Washington State Medicare patients. In addition to assessing the problem of regional rate disparities with studies, I have written a bill called the MediFAIR Act, which would enact increases to Medicare payments to physicians who practice in regions with payment rates lower than the national average. This bill would increase seniors’ access to doctors, provide better resources to people living with disabilities, and create needed stability to those patients. Related Documents:
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