The White House’s response to the health care community
[Ed. Note: This is a guest post from Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director at the Office of Health Reform and Counselor to the President, in response to comments from the health care community on LinkedIn regarding the challenges faced by health care professionals in their state]
Thank you for joining the discussion and sharing your thoughts on the health care challenges in your state. The President understands those challenges and has made it clear that health insurance reform must bring stability and security to Americans who have insurance today, provide affordable coverage to those who don’t, and lower the cost of health care to help our families, businesses, and government.
Many of the comments you posted online are similar to those we have heard from doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and other medical professionals across the county. You see firsthand the problems with our health care system – what happens when patients cannot receive the care they need because an insurance company has decided to drop or water down coverage, or when individuals do not have check-ups or preventive screenings because insurance companies do not cover them or they are uninsured. Dr. Joel commented that “our focus needs to shift to strategies of prevention and include incentives for healthier lifestyles.”
Some of you expressed concern about rising health costs. You are right. The rising cost of health care in this country is unsustainable. We are now spending roughly one in every six dollars on health care. If we do nothing, in 30 years, one out of every three dollars in our economy will be tied up in the health care system. Melissa S wrote that “my biggest concern is the cost associated with health plans.” Health care costs are rising more than three times faster than wages, and premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance for family coverage have risen 131 percent in the last ten years and went up five percent this year alone. One of the central goals of the President’s plan is to slow the growth rate of health care spending that is crushing families, businesses, and governments. Health insurance reform will accomplish this by increasing competition in the insurance market, wringing waste and fraud out of Medicare and Medicaid, and working to change our health care priorities to emphasize quality of care rather than quantity of services. Health insurance reform will limit what you have to pay out-of-pocket for health care and will do away with annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
Others wrote about patients who cannot move or change jobs because they have a pre-existing condition or simply cannot afford coverage on the expensive private insurance market. Dr. Anje V discussed “patients who have lost their insurance due to job loss.” Under the President’s plan, Americans will have the security of knowing they have options. People who are uninsured or are forced to seek coverage on today’s expensive individual market will be able to find affordable plans in the insurance exchange, a marketplace where you can shop for what is right for you. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny you coverage because you have a pre-existing condition, and they will be prohibited from cancelling your coverage when you get sick.
Several of you – including Frank W, a neuroradiology fellow – expressed concerns about the medical liability system. As part of the Administration’s ongoing effort to reform our health care system, we have listened to the concerns many have raised about the need to improve patient safety and to reform our medical liability system. President Obama recently directed Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to move forward immediately on an initiative to give states and health care systems the opportunity to apply for demonstration projects on medical liability consistent with certain goals and core commitments. You can read more about these demonstration grants here.
We appreciate the contributions of doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and other medical professionals around the country. You are on the front lines of the health care system and see every day how the problems with the current system are impacting you, your patients, and their families. Thank you for joining this discussion, and we look forward to hearing from you again.
We'd also like this to be the start of an ongoing conversation through the LinkedIn Group we've started for this purpose. Please continue sharing your valuable thoughts, comments and feedback here.