Obama To Ask Doctors To Back US Health Reform

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Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 15 Jun 2009 - 8:00 PDT

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President Barack Obama is seeking support from America's doctors today as he addresses delegates at the 158th annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago.

A White House official told the press that the President will speak to them about "his vision for a system that replicates best practices, incentivizes excellence and closes cost disparities", reported Reuters news agency.

In making his case, the President will ask doctors for "help in getting the job done" while Congress works on the more controversial parts of his healthcare reform plan. The President is proposing a system designed to reduce cost while increasing options. At the heart of it is a health insurance exchange where private plans compete with a public option, said the administration official.

This has been received with skepticism by some Republicans who say that including a public plan that is competitive will drive some insurers out of business and in the long run reduce the choice for patients.

According to Reuters, the AMA have also expressed concerns about a public health insurance plan that might be similar to the current Medicare state supported plan for seniors, however the organization said that it was willing to consider some of the options currently being reviewed by Congress, such as the idea of member-owned co-operatives.

AMA President Dr Nancy Nielsen said in a press statement that:

"The AMA is actively working for health reform that covers the uninsured, makes private insurance more affordable, increases the value our nation receives from its health-care spending and enhances prevention and wellness for patients."

"To achieve the vision of health care for everyone, there has to be a reduction in the rate of growth of spending on healthcare," she said.

"The AMA pledged to President Obama that the medical profession would reduce unnecessary costs by focusing on quality improvements, such as developing best practices for care and improving medication reconciliation," said Nielsen, stressing that:

"In order for physicians to focus on patient care, health reform that covers the uninsured must also include permanent Medicare payment reform, antitrust relief and medical liability protections."

The New York Times reported earlier today that Obama has been considering how to reduce malpractice lawsuits as a way to bring down costs, although he is not in favour of capping jury awards, said the Associated Press who also reported that former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (Democrat, South Dakota) said reducing the cost of malpractice insurance would also have to be included in the President's reformed health plan.

According to ABC News, Obama met earlier this year with the new AMA president Dr James Rohack who told the US President that one of the reasons the nation's health bill is so high is because doctors are practising "defense medicine", where for instance they order unnecessary tests, referrals and hospital stays just in case they get sued.

After that meeting, Rohack told ABC News that physicians would be prepared to look at reducing these unnecessary costs if they had protection in the court room, in the sense, for example that "we subsequently aren't going to get sued because we didn't order that test that shouldn't have been done in the first place."

Source: Reuters, ABC News, AMA, Associated Press.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today