Prescription for Healthcare Reform

• There is no need to rush a bill through legislation to satisfy a political promise. Achieving effective healthcare reform is a complicated task and should be done slowly and carefully. There is only one chance to do this correct.
• There is no problem with healthcare.  It is the best care in the world. The quality of US healthcare and patient outcomes is being unfairly criticized in order to change the system.  The real problem is with affordable access to health insurance, rising costs and an out of control tort system.
• There are numerous targeted solutions to address these problems that are being ignored by Congress and the White House. Access to health insurance is a chronic problem for 15-20 million US citizens, not 50 million. This can be addressed immediately with insurance vouchers and tax credits utilizing existing private insurers.
• Cost of healthcare insurance is high and needs to be made more affordable. This can be accomplished by promoting competition. First, by repealing the antitrust exemption that favors insurance companies (McCarron- Fergusson Act) and by relaxing restrictions on internet sales of healthcare insurance across state lines.
• Eliminate “pre-existing” condition penalty by establishing and expanding high risk pools across the nation and allow private insurers to compete for this business.
• Allow people to purchase their own insurance and receive the same tax benefit as employers do now.  This will uncouple insurance from the workplace and make it “portable”.
• Encourage Health Savings Accounts to make people better consumers of healthcare resources and re-connect with the actual cost of services. Doctors and hospitals could publish fees/rankings so patients could shop. Eliminate antitrust regulations, Stark rules and many other government burdens on doctors which inflate the cost of healthcare.
• Medical Liability Reform. Specialty boards to evaluate the merit of cases before they go to trial. Caps on awards, “loser pays” for frivolous lawsuits,  and a jury made up of physician peers and judges are reasonable suggestions.
• We reject any additional “government” controlled or sponsored health insurance program (Public Option, Co-ops, Insurance Exchange, Triggers, Mandates). Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP/VA are dysfunctional and bankrupt.
• We reject any non-elected government oversight board responsible for making clinical decisions and determining “quality” of care and coverage.
• The AMA does NOT represent the majority of “practicing” US physicians. Only 17% of US physicians belong to the AMA and most of these members are administrators, practice in academic medicine, retired or residents and students.  Therefore, the AMA’s endorsement of this legislation is meaningless and irrelevant.
• Our first priority is the health and well being of our patients and we will fight to preserve patients' freedom of choice and control of their personal healthcare decisions.