January 22, 2010

Scale Back and Slow Down

In order for health care reform to survive after Senator Brown's win in Massachusetts, it will have to be scaled back and slowed down.  This will of course take a true bi-partisan effort, which should produce a better bill.

One of the biggest issues against current bills in congress is that they do nothing to curb out of control costs.  They simply throw subsidies at them to make them more affordable.  It will have to deal with making medical costs more transparent.  Consumers need to know what everything costs, so they can shop around for best cost and quality. The bill will also need to deal with the cost shift that occurs from Medicare and Medicaid.  These government programs only reimburse doctors and hospitals around 50 cents on the dollar.  The loss they are taking from these patients is made up from patients with private insurance, and that of course is reflected in premium renewals.

If they are going to achieve any sort of reform, both parties will need to sit down with each other and work out options that curb costs, is cost effective and make sure the people are on board with. This in itself is not an easy task, but it is easier than trying a complete overhaul of the system with no republican and dwindling democrat support. 

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