President Barack Obama made health care reform a critical part of his election campaign and in recent weeks he has indicated a strong desire to push forward with his health care reform agenda this year.
Business owners, saddled with escalating health insurance costs in recent years, and the health insurance and health care industries will be keeping close eyes on Washington during the second half of 2009 to see what legislation comes out of the health care reform debate.
Business owners are often skeptical of government programs, preferring the private sector to provide goods and services. However, Julie Granger, vice president of communication for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce said some members of the MMAC’s Council of Small Business Executives (COSBE) board of directors are keeping an open mind about health care reform proposals.
“Certainly there is that prevailing sentiment that government involvement in private business is generally not a good idea,” Granger said. “However, there were a small number of businesses represented (at a COSBE board meeting) that really just said, ‘Not much else is working in this area,’ and were more open to reform than they had been in the past. They are more willing to give (a reform plan) a serious look.”
Obama’s plan proposes that affordable health insurance be available for all individuals, and creates a Health Insurance Exchange where Americans will have a choice of a number of plans including a public option. This plan, according to the Obama administration, will cost the country $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
“The country has already put a lot of stimulus dollars into the economy,” said Jane Cooper, president and chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Patient Care, which assists clients with health care consumption. “There are arguments that a very large health care bill, over $1 trillion, is an unsustainable plan and that is why there is a lot of discussion about funding a health care plan and what the key components of it should be.”
Skeptics abound
Many Republicans in Congress have criticized the Obama health care plan, questioning how a government run health care program can be done cost effectively and avoid rationing care.
“The House Democrats’ proposal is being sold as one that contains costs, gets a grip on our entitlement crisis, and allows those that like what they have to keep it. Yet again, the gap between what they are saying and what they are doing is nothing short of astounding.
“(The health care reform proposal that Congressional Democrats have) actually put forward would impose trillions of dollars in new spending, taxes, and debt, would create a new open-ended entitlement, and would force millions of Americans to lose the coverage they currently enjoy,” said U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville. “The Democrats’ proposal concludes that we are not spending enough on health care in America. We already spend over two-and-a-half times more on health care than any other country. Rather than add trillions more on top of that, let’s take the money we already spend on health care, and spend it more efficiently, more effectively. We can achieve universal access to quality, affordable health care in this country – regardless of preexisting conditions – without the government taking it over and without spending, taxing, or borrowing trillions more dollars.”
“Republicans tend to look at the public option plans already in place, Medicare and Medicaid,” Cooper said. “They see them as an option that has a very low reimbursement rate for doctors, and there is that fear that the new public plan would pay in ways similar to them. If the new public option does pay similarly to existing public options then doctors and hospitals might be less likely to participate in it.”
In recent years, health care and health insurance costs in southeastern Wisconsin have been higher than most other metro areas in the nation.
Need for change
The Wisconsin Health Insurance Cost Rankings report for 2009, issued by Robert Kraig, Ph.D of Citizen Action of Wisconsin stated that Wisconsin health insurance rates have increased 30 percent faster than the national average. The report also concluded that the only Wisconsin metro area that has increased by less than the national average is Madison. The south central region of Wisconsin, (Madison) has the lowest health care costs in the state, and according to the report, also has the most competitive health care provider market in the state.
The high health care costs are a big reason that national health care reform is necessary, many Democrats in Congress say.
“Skyrocketing health care costs have badly impacted the American economy. While America spends almost 50 percent more per person on health care than the next most costly nation, the extra spending has not made our country any healthier,” said U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee. “It has put American companies that contribute to coverage at a competitive disadvantage in our global economy. Comprehensive health care reform will ensure that employers make contributions to health care coverage for their employees, and at the same time will give businesses more choices to lower costs so as to reduce their financial burden. The result will be a net benefit to the economy.”
But Cooper said, consumers need to take a more active role in their health care choices.
“So far, the mentality, and the reason we are in the situation, has been if someone else is paying for it (insurance companies), why care what it costs?” she said. “So if the patients don’t bother to ask what it’s going to cost than the sky is the limit for people providing the services. There needs to be reform related to the transparency of cost and quality information. The only way you can take costs out of a health care system is for the consumers to pay more, or for doctors and hospitals to receive less.”
Consumers can actively take a role in how they shop for their care, and physicians can do a better job of knowing how much their procedures cost and what is covered, Cooper said.
“Physicians can also shift their focus to more preventative care measures, making sure their overweight, or diabetic patients are taking care of themselves so they don’t end up in the emergency room,” she said.
Hospital systems can work on reducing existing costly medical errors, and doing more procedures on an out patient basis, Cooper said.
“Employers too, have to start making smart and active choices about what things they are going to cover and what they are not,” she said.
