Health Care Repair

Throughout the development and discussion of health care reform legislation currently being considered by Congress, Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center have focused on improving access, quality and affordability for all patients.  Regardless of the outcome of the current health care reform legislation, Mayo Clinic will continue to work with lawmakers to ensure that the needs of the patient and their families are met.

Mayo Clinic does not traditionally take public positions for or against overall legislation.  Thus, we will not take a position for or against this bill.  We will, however, continue to point out provisions that we think move the country toward patient-centered health care as well as areas where we have concerns.

We continue to strongly believe that the status quo is not acceptable and have consistently said that there must be two key principles in any successful reform measure:

• Incentives for doctors and hospitals to offer the highest quality care at the most reasonable cost, and
• A means to enable all Americans to purchase health insurance.

Based on what the bill includes as of today, Mayo Clinic believes that the proposed health reform legislation contains provisions that are aligned with our principles for reform and will begin to move us toward a system that provides all Americans with quality care at affordable costs. Some of these provisions include:

• Provisions to pay more for value – better health care outcomes at lower cost,
• Insurance reforms, including elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions,
• An insurance exchange, rather than an expansion of Medicare or a government-run public option,
• Subsidies for people with financial need to purchase health insurance,
• An independent payment advisory board, and
• Pilot projects on accountable care organizations, medical homes and bundled payments.

Mayo Clinic recognizes that this legislation is an initial step toward ensuring quality, affordable health care for all Americans, but acknowledges much more needs to be done in the form of future legislative action. Lawmakers must aggressively move Medicare toward a system that pays for value rather than continuing to institute across the board reductions in reimbursements to doctors and hospitals.  As the first baby boomers qualify for Medicare next year, this huge influx of beneficiaries will put even greater strain on Medicare’s already precarious financial position.  Congress also needs to find a permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician payment system to prevent sudden limitation on access to care for Medicare patients.  We must ensure that health care in the United States is patient-centered, coordinated, accessible, affordable, and provides steadily improving value, whether that care is provided under Medicare or any other insurance program. Mayo Clinic is committed to assist with the effective implementation of legislation if it is passed as well as the development of future patient-centered health care reform legislation.

In what seems like good news for Democrats, the CBO has released is score on the Reconciliation Package.  The Democratic health care bill would cost $940 billion over 10 years and cut the federal deficit over the next two decades. 

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34627.html#ixzz0iXg8ReUM

The official analysis from the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation is attached here.     hr4872

In this case, the key number is 216.  Again in Politico Pulse this morning, a breakdown of the undecideds: the yes-to-no’s and the no-to-yes’s.