America's Health Trends
Healthcare Reform
Why Push So Hard Now?
Unless Congress is willing to make substantial changes…this reform effort is not going to accomplish that which was promised.

 

by Neil Crosby

We have all witnessed a tremendous push for healthcare reform, unlike we have seen before. But with all of the challenges that have faced the House and Senate in trying to package up a successful bill, why has it been pushed so hard to get it done now? Considering that healthcare reform became President Obama’s major domestic campaign promise, it is no wonder that there has been such a focused determination to keep that campaign promise. When the effort was beginning to stall during early summer, President Obama revived the effort by changing just one word; he changed the goal of healthcare reform to health insurance reform, and began to paint insurers as greedy to build momentum for reform. It always helps to build momentum for a cause if there is an enemy involved.
So what can be done to counter the political process of this reform effort? It seems fairly obvious that the majority in Congress, as well as some members of the minority want to see some reform to the healthcare system. We do need some changes to reform some major provisions of our current marketplace. But the bills that have recently been moved forward are not going to accomplish the goals that the administration wanted to achieve originally, which were:

• Contain healthcare costs
• Provide Quality healthcare
• Provide Affordable healthcare for every Individual and Family
• Provide Guaranteed Access to healthcare

If the proposed bills were to successfully address these goals we might be able to support this effort, at least in part. But with the bills as written, they do not address the goal of containing the steady rise of healthcare costs. And why do they keep rising? Because healthcare costs keep rising, simple as that. The bills also will not attain the goal of providing more quality healthcare, nor really bend the curve of how providers are reimbursed. The true shame of these bills is they will not accomplish one of the largest goals of providing affordable healthcare for Americans as promised. Unless these bills are changed drastically, the effect of these bills will be to cause health insurance rates to soar, the opposite result of the desired goal. The final goal of providing guaranteed access to those seeking to purchase health insurance coverage regardless of pre-existing health conditions is a lofty goal and frankly long overdue. When we have Americans who apply for coverage, attach a check, and are willing to be responsible enough to buy coverage they need to be able to access coverage.
So what needs to be done now? Unless these reform bills are changed to comply with the goals they were supposed to accomplish they should be opposed. The public has grown more and more uneasy about what this reform effort may cause, and rightly so. The public wants to know what this means to them, what it is going to cost them as an employer or as an individual American.

To accomplish real healthcare reform, what needs to happen is:
• National Tort Reform
• Electronic Health Records
• Providers paid for Quality care
• Transparency of Healthcare Costs

National Tort reform is needed, not so much to trim malpractice awards, but to try to slow all of the defensive medicine that is practiced everyday by providers throughout America. Electronic health records, over time, could reduce duplicate medicine that is a huge cost driver in the system. There is discussion of changing the way that providers are paid for patient care, as long as it is effective and is also fair to providers this would also bend the cost curve. And imagine if healthcare transparency would allow us to shop for our healthcare procedures just like we do for so many products and services.

The public would be aware of how much healthcare really costs if you were able to attain true transparency in healthcare costs and couple that with recent trends in the market, at least in California, where consumers are buying more consumer directed health plans.
As you are aware, most of the public has no idea of the actual cost of healthcare procedures, let alone the actual cost of the premium being paid when they receive their coverage through their employer. They are shocked when they see what their coverage will cost through COBRA. Even the media doesn’t understand it, they report how much more COBRA coverage is versus what they believe the cost was under the employer plan. These realities are changing the buying trends in California and America already, and will continue to do so, at least into the near future.
Unless Congress is willing to make substantial changes to the bills working their way through the system, this reform effort is not going to accomplish that which was promised. Will they stop here, clean the slate and start over? Not likely. Therefore it is up to all of us to talk about the way reform should happen. Talk to your friends, family, neighbors and community groups. Let’s try to make a difference.
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Neil Crosby is director of Sales at Warner Pacific Insurance Services and Vice President of Public Affairs for the California Association of Health Underwriters For more information, e-mail NeilC@WarnerPacific.com or call 800-801-2300 x 408.