:: Senator Clinton Unveils Her Seven Point Health Care Reform Plan
On Thursday, as a candidate for president, Clinton (D-N.Y.) returned to the complicated and contentious topic, acknowledging mistakes and promising that she had learned from the experience. “Now, I’ve tangled with this issue before, and I’ve got the scars to show for it,” she told an auditorium packed with medical students and doctors at George Washington University. “But I learned some valuable lessons from that experience. One is that we can’t achieve reform without the participation and commitment of health-care providers, employers, employees and other citizens who pay for, depend upon and actually deliver health-care services.” “Clinton Revisits Health-Care Ideas”, Chicago Tribune (May 25, 2007)
Senator Clinton’s proposals reflect a cautious selection of initiatives with a tenor of gradualism and policy concerns as opposed to her sweeping 1990’s version of healthcare reform. The proposals announced yesterday will therefore find a more congenial reception among healthcare providers and employers, who have themselves moved toward the center on the concept of healthcare reform.
In a nutshell, the proposals contain notions of improving efficiency, lowering costs (particularly drug costs), encouraging preventive care, combating chronic disease, and expanding risk pools to prevent adverse selection. She packages these ideas in broad thematic array, without mentioning ERISA once, and employers only three times in the context of employer savings.
It would be surprising if these proposals find any large scale opposition. Her medical malpractice reform proposal, limited to a concept of tying liability protections to error disclosures will disappoint providers as too anemic. The pharmaceutical industry should feel some discomfort on the subject of cost savings. All in all, however, the proposals have already succeeded in some measure if they do not mobilize opposition as did her infamous 1990’s reform plan.
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From Senator Clinton’s Website, HillaryClinton.com
Hillary Clinton Announces Agenda to Lower Health Care Costs for All Americans
Seven-Step Strategy Would Cut Costs By $120 Billion Per YearHillary Clinton today announced a 7-step strategy to control health care costs and create a framework to provide affordable, quality coverage to all Americans in a major policy address at George Washington University. By focusing on prevention, electronic medical records and managing chronic illnesses, Clinton’s plan would save the system $120 billion per year and cut the average family’s health care costs by $2,200 annually.
“Building a national consensus around these cost savings is the first crucial step to cover all Americans with quality, affordable health care,” Clinton said. “Our present system is outdated, ineffective, and unsustainable. But we know we can spend far less and create an efficient, high-quality health care system for all Americans. The key is to modernize our health care infrastructure and demand a better return on our investment.”
Health care premiums have almost doubled since 2000, up 87 percent, or four times higher than wages over the same period. And if left unattended, health care spending will double to $4 trillion per year over the next 10 years.
Senator Clinton’s strategy would:
1. Create a Groundbreaking National Prevention Initiative to Reduce the Incidence of Such Diseases as Diabetes and Cancer that Impose Huge Human and Financial Costs
2. Institute a New “Paperless” Health Information Technology System
3. Transform Care of Today’s Chronically Ill Population to Improve Outcomes and Decrease Costs
4. End Insurance Discrimination to Help Reduce Administrative Costs
5. Create an Independent “Best Practices” Institute to Empower Consumers, Providers and Health Plans to Make the Right Care Choices
6. Implement Smart Purchasing Initiatives to Constrain Excess Prescription Drug and Managed Care Expenditures
7. Put in Place Common-Sense Medical Malpractice ReformsTo read a full description of Clinton’s health care strategy to lower costs for all Americans, visit http://www.hillaryclinton.com/files/pdf/healthcarecosts.pdf
