Reform #1 - Patient-Centered Health Insurance

Any third party payer system, whether insurance companies or a government-run plan, strips patients and physicians of both autonomy and responsibility. This creates one of the most difficult challenges facing healthcare reform. How do we design a system that protects individuals from devastating medical expenses if they suffer a serious illness or injury, but still encourages the wise use of resources?

The reforms proposed by Physicians for Reform do not undercut any system currently in place. In fact, because these reforms control the skyrocketing cost of healthcare they serve to strengthen employer-based insurance. However, as opposed to a system that transfers more power to Washington, these reforms shift power and responsibility toward patients and physicians.

Reform #1

Let businesses and individuals purchase health insurance across state lines.

Choice and competition drive innovation and efficiency. Allowing 50 different congressional bodies to compete against one another in their attempt to craft the most efficient and effective healthcare policies solves multiple problems:

• Recent years have seen Washington gain unprecedented power. Letting businesses and individuals purchase health insurance across state lines respects the concept of Federalism and returns power to the individual states.
• Each state has the incentive to craft policies that protect its citizens, yet keep costs low to attract commerce to their state.
• Letting businesses and individuals purchase health insurance across state lines instantly promotes choice and competition without adding cumbersome Federal regulation. It will also empower them to purchase policies that best fit their needs.
• Returning power to the individual states and allowing them to compete will lessen the influence of special interests and help drive down costs.

Reform #2

Encourage lower cost / higher deductible policies combined with Health Savings Accounts.

This type of health insurance not only gives patients more control over their own healthcare dollars, it causes them to ask two questions:

1. How much does this cost?
2. Do I need this test?

When patients and physicians work together to consider the cost and benefit of a given test or treatment, healthcare becomes much more efficient without cumbersome government regulation.

Patients often need two or three years to become comfortable with an HSA based plan. While encouraged, these plans are not mandated. Traditional policies would still be available. However, this policy has several benefits:

• Low cost, catastrophic coverage combined with a tax-free Healthcare Savings Account would attract the “young invincibles” to purchase coverage.
• When implemented by businesses, this strategy has repeatedly decrease healthcare sending by approximately 13% without compromising access to care.
• If America could reduce even one fourth of its healthcare spending by even 10%, this will save $50 billion every year without the rationing of care.

Reform #3

Creation of High Risk Pools

Low cost / high deductible plans do not work for patients with expensive, chronic disease leaving a small percentage of patients who need a different type of coverage. This public policy issue is difficult and complex. One possible solution is to create a Federally subsidized high-risk pool. Physicians for Reform recognizes the difficulty of this issue and continues to look for the best solution.