Avoiding Past Mistakes

We were going to do it better this time around.  As the current version of health reform got underway, there was a shared determination by groups spanning the political spectrum to work together and avoid the rhetorical shooting war that characterized the health reform debates in the Clinton years.  President Obama and Senators Baucus and Kennedy set the tone early by allowing all parties a voice in early deliberations.  Business, labor and health care organizations sat down together at the Health Reform Dialogue table.  There have been high hopes that reasonable discussion would yield a bipartisan, centrist health reform solution.

Those early aspirations are being challenged in the heat of summer.  It’s not encouraging that advocates of a government-run health plan have embraced a double-barreled strategy to demonize private health insurers during the August congressional recess.  To the credit of the health plans, they’re not taking the bait and have refused to give up on the idea of bipartisan health reform.  Read more

CATEGORIES: Access to Coverage for the Uninsured, Health Reform  |   Link  |   Trackback  |   Comments (78)

A Good Reminder from Minnesota’s Governor

With all of the media coverage devoted to the controversial aspects of health reform, most notably the proposal to create a government-run health plan and the possible tax increases that may be used to pay for reform, insufficient attention is given to one of the most important objectives reformers must achieve – how to align healthcare dollars with exceptional healthcare quality.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty does a good job spotlighting this issue in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post.  He writes about how Washington, DC should look to the states as “models of market-driven, patient-centered and quality-focused reform.”  He points toward his own state’s employee healthcare plan which rewards workers for seeking value, lowering their out-of-pocket costs if they choose.

Pawlenty also makes a point that we’ve made repeatedly here at the Healthcare Leadership Council, that there are many health reform ideas that can generate broad, bipartisan support and we shouldn’t sacrifice those at the altar of controversy, non-essential ideas like the government plan option.  Read more

CATEGORIES: Access to Coverage for the Uninsured, Evidence-Based Medicine, Health Information Technology, Health Reform, Healthcare Costs and Value, Liability Reform, Patient Safety and Quality, Protecting Innovation, Wellness and Chronic Care Management  |   Link  |   Trackback  |   Comments (129)