Obama Supports Larger Role For Medicare Advisory Commission
Most Americans probably aren't aware of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), a group of experts well-versed in the operational details of the Medicare program. The areas they discuss are extremely dry and technical, and their work covers areas that are beyond the expertise of most members of Congress.
Twice a year, MedPAC issues recommendations to Congress, detailing exactly what they would do in order to improve the operation of the Medicare program, including updating payment and coverage policies, improving access to care, and improving healthcare quality. Sometimes Congress might take a few of these recommendations into consideration, but most of the items are ignored.
According to the Wall Street Journal, those days may be coming to an end. Senator Rockefeller has introduced legislation that would allow MedPAC to play a larger role in healthcare reform by turning it into an independent executive agency comparable to the Federal Reserve Board. President Obama has indicated that he supports this type of larger role for MedPAC, and would take it a step further by automatically adopting their recommendations absent Congressional action to oppose. He would also limit Congress's ability to break individual recommendations out of their package - they would need to be adopted as a group, or not at all.
Experts hope that this will help contain costs in the Medicare program, which would be a great boon, as their trust fund is rapidly depleting. Medicare often serves as a model for other types of health coverage, so what works for this program may be adopted across the board.
Twice a year, MedPAC issues recommendations to Congress, detailing exactly what they would do in order to improve the operation of the Medicare program, including updating payment and coverage policies, improving access to care, and improving healthcare quality. Sometimes Congress might take a few of these recommendations into consideration, but most of the items are ignored.
According to the Wall Street Journal, those days may be coming to an end. Senator Rockefeller has introduced legislation that would allow MedPAC to play a larger role in healthcare reform by turning it into an independent executive agency comparable to the Federal Reserve Board. President Obama has indicated that he supports this type of larger role for MedPAC, and would take it a step further by automatically adopting their recommendations absent Congressional action to oppose. He would also limit Congress's ability to break individual recommendations out of their package - they would need to be adopted as a group, or not at all.
Experts hope that this will help contain costs in the Medicare program, which would be a great boon, as their trust fund is rapidly depleting. Medicare often serves as a model for other types of health coverage, so what works for this program may be adopted across the board.
Editorial Shows That Health Reform Can't Pick Sides
Kaiser Family Foundation President & CEO Drew Altman, Ph.D. recently wrote an editorial which breaks down political opinion on healthcare reform. He states that although the left and right are becoming increasingly polarized, reform appears to be taking place in the middle. Thus, everyone is likely to be at least somewhat unhappy with the results, because nobody is going to get exactly what they want.
It remains to be seen whether this centrist reform will simply be a watered-down compromise, or whether it will meaningfully accomplish all it intends. Once the dust has settled and the ideological posturing has died down, the real question will be how reform will affect Americans, as a practical matter.
Health Insurers and Tobacco Companies Make Strange Bedfellows
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that several health insurance companies own a significant amount of stock in tobacco companies. This means that they literally have a financial interest in ensuring that demand for tobacco continues. It also, according to at least one expert, eliminates any doubt that insurance companies are for-profit organizations who are motivated by profit, not the health of its customers.
The Secret To Health Reform Success
A recent Congressional Budget Office report points to the role of private insurers as a key factor in the success of healthcare reform efforts. According to the Washington Post, the limited role of the private marketplace sounded the death knell for the Clinton reform plan in the early 1990's because a large and dramatically expanded governmental role was not, and still is not, politically viable. Reformers have been careful to avoid similar issues this time around by maintaining an active role for private insurers and proposing health insurance exchanges that would include both public and private insurance options.
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