Three members of Congress framed the healthcare reform debate for attendees at the Federation of American Hospitals’ annual meeting in Washington this morning.
Rep. Henry Waxman, the California Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, advocated for President Barack Obama’s healthcare proposals. The president intends to build on the current system by expanding federal programs and making private health plans more affordable, Waxman said. That mix of public and private insurance, including a government health plan that consumers can purchase, will ensure a “creative tension” of competition in healthcare. Waxman, who has supported a single-payer system in the past, acknowledged that no reform capable of congressional passage will please everyone, saying, “These are difficult policies for many. I don’t like many of them myself.” The goal of universal coverage, however, was too important for policymakers to stand in the way of reform just because it doesn’t fit their ideal version of reform.
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said a government-run health plan that competes with commercial health insurance would eventually put the private plans out of business. Blunt, who leads a House Republican task force on healthcare policy, said the role of government is to organize the system by setting rules, but not to run the system. He cited malpractice reform as an example of what government can do to improve the organization of the system. Blunt contended that Obama’s plan to fund research into comparative effectiveness of treatments was a step toward rationing care. Blunt also warned that labor organizing elections must remain secret ballots, not the so-called check-card method that labor unions have pushed for.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) billed himself as the “bipartisan radical centrist” speaker. Warner said spending more federal money toward the goal of universal coverage must be put in the context of the $2.4 trillion the CMS estimates was spent on healthcare in the U.S. in 2008. Providers must be prepared for the “three I’s” of healthcare reform, Warner said. Those are infrastructure (healthcare IT investment, in particular), information (using those systems to determine what works clinically and to measure it) and incentives. The federal government, Warner said, must set standards for IT and provide the incentives to adopt best practices. For example, he said, if care coordination saves money for federal programs, providers should receive a slice of the savings. Warner also said he supports “medical liability relief” based on providers who follow proven clinical standards and a national debate on end-of-life care. He also said that health plans should compete on costs and quality, not on their ability to find a healthier group of patients than their competitors.
