Health Care and Insurance Reform
Since the health care reform bill was signed into law, we continue to hear partisan invective from its most strident supporters and opponents. Now more than ever we need to engage in an impartial, reasoned dialogue about reform and take an objective look the changes our health care system is facing and where improvements need to be made.
I do not believe that our private health care system is an obstacle to reaching the goal of creating access to high quality health care for all Americans. On the contrary, given the entrenched private market history of our health care system, I believe that modifying our current system, as this legislation has done, will be prudent and cost-effective in the long run.
I believe that we have also taken important steps forward in making our health care system less exclusionary by ending such practices as denying coverage to people with “pre-existing” conditions, kicking people off of a plan when they become sick or preventing pregnant women or babies born with health problems from qualifying for insurance coverage.
I also support expanded Medicare prescription privileges for our seniors and allowing more young adults to remain on their parents’ health plan, as well as tax credits to help small businesses and the self-employed defray the costs of insurance, which play a role in inhibiting innovation and entrepreneurship. And by allowing small businesses and individuals to pool their buying power, we will be fostering increased competition in the private insurance market and creating a level playing field for all businesses.
At the same time, we need to restore free-market values to our health care insurance system by ending the outdated exemption to anti-trust laws, which will also end the ability of insurance companies to impose unchecked premium hikes on their customers. Real competition in the insurance industry will give Americans real choices when it comes to shopping for a plan.
Many provisions in the health care bill take effect immediately and will significantly increase the number of Americans who will be able to buy insurance, which is something we can all welcome. But we need to do more to expand the number of physicians and primary care providers who can treat the growing ranks of the insured. Medical school admission rates have not changed since the 1980s, and we need to create more incentives for physicians to enter into general practice. We also need to expand the pool of allied health care professionals to provide primary care in areas with the most severe provider shortages.
Making the insurance industry more competitive and enacting common-sense measures to protect consumers will go a long way towards enhancing cost efficiencies and encouraging increased entrepreneurship in the private market.