Emory Hosts Diverse Health Care Panel
(APN) ATLANTA — A nine-person panel comprised of healthcare experts offered varying viewpoints Saturday, August 15, 2009, on how the Obama Administration and US Congress should proceed on healthcare reform during a forum at Emory University.
The One America Celebration, organized by State Sen. Ronald Ramsey (D-Lithonia), allowed attendees to learn what the potential effects of eventual healthcare reform might be and learn about some reform alternatives.
“We cannot be any worse off than we are now under healthcare reform,” Charity Woods, the Georgia coordinator for Healthcare For America NOW! (HCAN), said.
Woods encouraged citizens to obtain the “correct information” about the proposed healthcare reform package currently before Congress.
“[We] believe in the public option,” she said of HCAN’s position. “It does provide a choice that we feel is reasonable.”
Dr. David Howard, an Associate Professor in Emory’s Department of Health Policy and Management, assured the audience the current reform proposal does not call for restricting or rationing care nor would it create long lines for care.
However, “there are no cost control methods in these bills,” he said.
“I understand the need for reform [but] I am worried about the importance of this bill on the deficit,” he said.
Dr. David Frisvold, a professor of health economics at Emory, noted Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimates exceed $1 trillion based on a 10year projection. But reform could create $200 billion in savings, he said.
“Does this imply the current proposal to pay for healthcare reform will expire in 10 years?” Frisvold asked. “How accurate is the CBO estimate? Are the estimated costs actually higher?”
There are several proposals floating around to generate revenue, including taxing employer-provided insurance and taxing individuals, and even a tax on soft drinks, he said. Additionally, some proposals suggest offering tax incentives to employers to continue offering health insurance.
“None of them are going to be great,” he admitted. “If there was a way to raise revenue without hurting anyone, it would have been done by now.”
Dr. Timothy Ryan, a private practice Cartersville physician, does not take any third party payments from Medicare, Medicaid, worker’s compensation, nor employers.
“[My practice] is unique because almost none of my patients have health insurance and none of them have problem with access,” Ryan said, although it was not immediately clear how his patients could afford to pay out of pocket. “Because I’m not burdened by third party overhead and regulation… I can provide quality care for my patients.”
Ryan argued for a reform approach supported by the Libertarian Party — a true free market system that eliminates excessive regulation.
He called for “wide open” competition between private insurers and believes special interests groups representing insurance and pharmaceutical companies should stop “manipulating legislation” in their favor.
“When doctors and patients allow third parties in the middle, they lose control,” Ryan said, seeming to contradict his support for private insurance. That is, private insurance does come between doctors and patients.
Ryan believes the current reform proposal will actually create more competition in the insurance market, he said.
Dr. Gary Richter, President of the Medical Association of Georgia, said his group opposes government involvement in providing healthcare and opposes the proposed public option.
“The mechanisms to finance medical care in this country have failed,” he said. “What we need to do is reform the current private medical insurance market.”
Richter conceded the current reform proposal does contain some favorable provisions, such as the conversion to electronic medical records, the emphasis on wellness and prevention, and the streamlining of care.
“If you have coverage, it does not mean you have universal access,” he argued. “Medical decisions should always be made by patients… No one should ever be allowed to tell you how to spend your money on your care.”
Richter did not acknowledge, however, that in a private market system, patients’ medical decisions are constrained by how much insurance they can afford.
“We are strongly committed to making sure all Americans can choose their doctor [and] where they receive treatment,” Kenneth Mitchell, Director of the Georgia American Associated of Retired Persons (AARP), said.
While the Georgia AARP has not endorsed any proposal so far, Mitchell said any reform measure should guarantee affordable coverage, close the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole,” allow access to generic drugs, and allow Medicaid to cover home care costs, among other measures.
Mitchell assured the audience Saturday, which included many seniors, that the AARP stands behind Medicare.
“The AARP has never or will never support legislation that threatens Medicare,” he said.
Mitchell is disappointed some groups are “using myths and scare tactics” to derail the healthcare discussion, he said.
“Perhaps the most disgraceful is the rumor that healthcare reform will somehow give government the power to make life and death decisions,” he said. “This debate on how to get things fixed shouldn’t be political.”
Mitchell warned that without comprehensive reform, “premiums will continue to increase, benefits will be cut, and choices will be taken away,” scenarios Mitchell said are “not acceptable.”
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