Health Insurance Reform Research

I am currently conducting research on the proposed Healthcare Bill and I found the following information:

“The problem with the “public plan ensures competition” argument, in my view, is that it applies a national solution to regional problems” (Katz, 2009).

So, there are problems with the current system but what will help?

“What this suggests is the most effective way for a public plan to lower medical costs is to impose MediCare-type pricing on doctors and hospitals. This, however, would violate the pledge of lawmakers to maintain a level-playing field between the public plan and private carriers” (Katz, 2009).

“Why this matters is that MediCare pays less than the actual cost of many medical services. Hospitals and doctors shift this shortfall to commercial carriers. If the government-run health plan did the same the cost shift would be brutal, driving many of those carriers out of the market — not because they couldn’t compete on a level playing field, but because the playing field was not level” (Katz, 2009).

Is the goal maintaining a level-playing field?

“The debate over a public insurance plan would be more straightforward if it focused on the real issue: should the government offer coverage at lower prices resulting from imposing reimbursement fee schedules on doctors and hospitals. That’s unlikely to happen, however. When it comes to health care reform the public trusts doctors and hospitals and they don’t trust insurance companies. Consequently, ignoring the fact that a lack of competition among carriers is a local, not a national, problem is good politics. But it makes for an awkward public policy debate” (Katz, 2009).

“A new government insurance program for the uninsured just makes things worse. In addition, this program will undoubtedly cost far more than initial estimates, as has occurred with Medicare and Medicaid” (Miron, 2009).

“Society must accept that we cannot give everyone the best care all the time; the attempt to do so will bankrupt the economy. As in other areas, societies must make tradeoffs about health, and that happens well only when governments subsidize less” (Miron, 2009).

I report you decide…

References:

Katz, Alan (2009, August 3). A Public Health Plan and Competition. Retrieved August 6, 2009, from The Alan Katz Health Care Reform Blog Web site: http://alankatz.wordpress.com/

Miron, Jeffrey (2009, June 15). Commentary: US health costs out of control. Retrieved August 6, 2009, from CNN Politics.com Web site: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/15/miron.health.costs/index.html