Health Reform Dialogue calls for health reform this year
30 03 09 - 12:42
Health report ignores contentious issues
By Jeffrey Young - The Hill
A broad coalition of business, healthcare and consumer groups issued a report Friday outlining its consensus views on health reform, though it bypassed the most contentious issues and lost two big labor unions along the way.
In the report , the so-called Health Reform Dialogue group acknowledges it did not resolve the major bones of contention.
“This health reform dialogue was never intended to cover every issue likely to arise as health reform is considered in the ensuing months. Some issues currently elude consensus,” the report says.
Among other things, the report is silent on whether health reform should include the creation of a new, government-run health benefit, whether individuals should be required to obtain insurance or employers required to provider it, or on how to pay for reforms on the scale proposed by President Obama, which could cost upward of $1 trillion.
The membership of the Health Reform Dialogue includes such influential organizations as the senior citizens’ lobby AARP, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the liberal activist group Families USA.
Prior to the completion of the report, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) exited the coalition because it is committed to the creation of a new public healthcare program. In addition, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) declined to sign the report.
The lack of agreement on these two areas underscores the challenge facing Congress and the Obama administration, which must resolve them if they are to succeed with one of the president’s biggest domestic priorities.
Although the report may be missing some key elements and players, the diverse group nevertheless has made what could prove a crucial contribution to the efforts of Obama and Congress to craft an agreement on how to overhaul the American healthcare system.
Most notably, the coalition declares that health reform should be done this year, that the system of employer-sponsored health benefits should be maintained rather than replaced, that health insurance coverage should be available to everyone and that the government needs to spend money upfront to make put reforms into place.
The organizations that make up the Health Reform Dialogue have been staging regular meetings over the past six months, with the assistance of a professional mediator, to develop their report.
Their principles align closely with the objectives of Obama and the lawmakers working on reform, which can be partly traced to discussions between the members of the coalition and key figures such as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).
Baucus praised the report in a statement. “I'm pleased to see healthcare providers, the business community and consumers bringing health reform ideas to the table,” Baucus said. “You can bet I'll be working closely with these groups, and everyone who brings ideas to the table, as we put pen to paper on healthcare reform in the coming weeks and months.”
Among the more specific recommendations made by these groups and their partners are that Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program should be expanded, that tax credits be made available to help people buy health insurance, that small businesses get subsidies to provide benefits to their workers and that insurance regulation be changed to make it easier to buy policies.
In addition, the report endorses healthcare-quality improvement through mechanisms such as comparative-effectiveness research, payment reforms to encourage prevention, wellness and primary care, expanded use of electronic medical records and other health information technologies, and reforms to the medical liability system.
A labor union-backed group advocating for health reform that includes a new public plan dismissed the report.
“After months of discussions the groups that remained in the Health Reform Dialogue could not agree on the tough decisions that Congress and the president must make,” said Richard Kirsch, the national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, which counts AFSCME and the SEIU among its members.
The Health Reform Dialogue report also carries the signatures of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the Business Roundtable, the Catholic Health Association of the United States, the Federation of American Hospitals, the Healthcare Leadership Council and the National Federation of Independent Business.