With the recent passage in the U.S. House of Representatives of the so-called Health Care Reform Bill, an expensive and cumbersome new national health care plan now seems inevitable. This is unfortunate, because as written, this bill brings costly new layers of bureaucracy to our health care system without anything that truly keeps people healthier.
Had the bill focused on what this country genuinely needs — wellness and healthier lifestyles among Americans, fewer mandates that hamstring so many health care providers, and long overdue reform to medical malpractice insurance — it could have been a winner. Sadly, this is not the direction in which Congress has gone.
As the owner of a small business that creates employee benefits and health care plans for hundreds of other small businesses, I understand the need to provide adequate health care for all Americans. Fundamental change is needed. But not this way.
One of the main tenets of this bill is the government health care exchange, which requires individuals to purchase government-subsidized health coverage and prohibits individual coverage from being sold outside of it. This will lead to three certainties – reduced competition, fewer choices, and diminished quality. None do any good for the American consumer.
This will lead to three certainties — reduced competition, fewer choices, and diminished quality. None do any good for the American consumer.
Additionally, in the rush to get a bill passed, where was the bipartisanship? Less than 1% of Congressional Republicans support this bill, which also led to some solid ideas being left out.
What happened to health care savings accounts? Or caps on medical malpractice claims? What about allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines? All were left by the wayside, along with the spirit of bipartisanship.
Fewer health care choices. More bureaucracy. Nothing about wellness or medical malpractice. This is the bill Americans are now looking at, one that will bring with it a bevy of new taxes to pay for it. This is not health care reform.
However, despite the bill’s inevitability, there are still measures that can exact positive change on the health care landscape. Here are just three steps that can still be taken which would actually keep people healthier and reduce costs.
• Wellness and Prevention — Hundreds of billions are spent each year on health care costs incurred through unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as obesity, smoking, and poor nutrition. It is unfathomable that neither the President nor the Congress has made wellness the issue.
Studies show many of our costliest diseases and conditions — such as heart and kidney disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure — can be significantly curbed through healthy living.
Such lifestyles can no longer just be encouraged — they must be required as part of a health care plan, with incentives for healthy choices and penalties for unhealthy ones.
• Reduced State Mandates — Connecticut is one of the most heavily regulated states in the country for insurance services. Changes can be made here to lessen these mandates, such as allowing employer to select from a menu of covered services in terms of employee benefits, rather than working from an arbitrary state-mandated boilerplate.
• Reform Medical Malpractice — State government has tried for years, but we can no longer wait. Too many healthcare providers live in fear of malpractice suits, leading to unnecessary tests and examinations that exist to protect the provider rather than keep the patient healthy. This drives health care costs through the roof. If we are serious about reforming health care, reforming medical malpractice must go with it.
It is unfortunate that Congress neglected such essential areas in its rush to push through a bill, because these are measures needed to keep people healthy. We still have time to enact real change, here in Connecticut. But the time is now.
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Jason Gutcheon is a partner at PBI, a West Hartford-based employee benefits and financial services firm.
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