Was Anything Accomplished at the Health Reform Summit?

After watching the 7 hour long health care reform summit yesterday, I was left wondering if it accomplished anything.  To put it simply; No.  While it finally gave republicans a chance to tell their ideas to the public, there wasn't much else it accomplished.  It was more of the same back and forth rhetoric, only a little more civil. 

Democrats stated over and over examples of families falling through the cracks of our current system.  Republicans called for the democrats regulations to be scaled back and apply free market principles.  Democrats said their ideas were best, republicans said their ideas were.  Democrats called republiucans the party of "no," republicans said we want health care reform just not this reform.

If you were looking for a bright spot here, it would be that both parties may have realized they have more reforms in common than not.  However, I do not believe this will matter because what they do not agree on are big philosophical differences.  Such as, mandating individuals have insurance. 

It became very evident during the summit that many of these politicians had no idea what they were talking about.  For instance, Rep. Clyburn (D-SC) stated that emergency rooms were being misused (this is 100% correct), he said that a third of all ER visits are actually not emergency visits (again, correct).  However, he stated the reason for this is because people have high deductible plans that have too much out of pocket and they cannot afford to go to their doctor's office, so instead they go to the emergency room.  He apparently doesn't understand that an emergency room visit is extremely more expensive than a doctor's office visit.  So his logic does not make sense.  It is very sad to think that people who do not know these basic health care facts are put in charge in trying to re-invent the system.

Another point that was frustrating is that when the idea of Health Savings Accounts came up they were quickly brushed aside and branded as "accounts for the rich."  While statistics show, that 50% of people that have HSA's make less than $50,000 a year.

It basically comes down to this, you can pay the insurance company upfront for a low deductible first dollar coverage plan or you can pay for health care as you use it with the savings account coupled with a high deductible plan.  Usually the savings difference from going to a first dollar coverage plan to an HSA plan is more than the deductible itself, so there is guaranteed savings.

Neither side of the aisle truly knows enough about health care or health insurance to try a complete overhaul of our current system.

After the summit yesterday, I do not believe anything has changed.  The only way these bills move forward now is if the democrats try and pass it through a reconciliation process. Stay tuned to find out how this will all play out.