CMA Supports Senate Move To Expand Health Care Coverage Access To A Doctor Must Be Protected

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 15 May 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The California Medical Association applauded the U.S. Senate Finance Committee today for producing a thoughtful analysis of ways to expand the nation's health care coverage. The committee's paper, titled "Expanding Health Care Coverage: Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans," includes certain market reforms that all participating health plans would be required to participate in.

"In California, doctors have long argued for a system that provides universal access to health care," said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, a trauma surgeon who is president of CMA. "Expanding coverage is a start, but does not necessarily translate into patients having access to doctors when they need it, a critical component of people staying healthy and checking rising health care costs."

A critical piece of expanding access to care will be insurance reform. CMA supports the paper's proposal for a Health Insurance Exchange, a government-coordinated pool of health insurance plans for consumers to purchase from, as long as it ensures patient choice by providing enough plans to facilitate competition and keep cost down.

Although the Exchange would be part of national reform, the plans must be held accountable to the laws in states where they sell their insurance products. For example, in California, the Knox Keene Act offers robust protections, such as requiring health plans to assist patients in their primary language and provide breast cancer screening, whereas federal law does not.

CMA has been a constant advocate for insurance plans to have a minimum medical loss ratio, spending at least 85% of health care premiums on patient care. Such a standard would help lower health care costs by ensuring more health care dollars go to health care, not administrative costs or profits.

The paper also outlines the role of public programs, such as Medicaid, and discusses their expansion to cover low-income families. Any expansion of current public programs must address the shortcomings of current programs which hinder access to health care for their enrollees. As we've seen in California, the failure to fully fund Medi-Cal has led to well-documented shortages of providers, many of whom simply cannot afford to participate more vigorously in the program. (See Los Angeles Times, March 24, 2008: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/24/local/me-medical24) This has left patients struggling to get access to care. Any expansion to a these programs must have appropriate funding to ensure real access to a doctor.

The committee is scheduled to release a separate paper detailing financing options in coming weeks.

The California Medical Association represents more than 35,000 physicians in all modes of practice and specialties. CMA is dedicated to the health of all patients in California.

Source
California Medical Association

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