| Vol. 4 No. 5 March 5, 2009 Archives |
| On March 5, President Barack Obama held the White House Forum on Health Reform. Several dozen federal legislators, health industry representatives, businesses, labor union, health experts and a smattering of common folks — health care consumers — came together for a day of initial discussions about how to reform health care. While there was representation by groups such as Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, there was no representation by traditional African American led groups like the NAACP or National Urban League that I saw on the list of attendees although Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza and Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund were there. In a conference call before the forum took place, Obama’s domestic policy council director Melody Barnes fielded questions about the nature of the health forum and what the president hoped to achieve. There was some controversy swirling around about the last minute invites to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), two proponents of a single payer system. Whether it was real or manufactured by the press, there was some concern that the White House was tilting the recommendations that will ultimately be reported out and serve as a basis for future legislation. In terms of a single payer system, Barnes said ‘What the president has said is that if we were starting from scratch, he thinks that would be an excellent way to go. But at this point, he believes we have to build on our current employer-based system to move forward,’ Barnes also noted that many of the same actors who were fighting healthcare reform back in the 1990s are now sitting at the table discussing healthcare reform. “They’ll be joined by long-term proponents of healthcare reform as well as Republicans and Democrats, the leadership from Congress, House and Senate,” Barnes said. “I think it has been a very long, long time — and I can’t remember the last time — when we brought that set of people around the table and did it in a way that the American people can also watch so it is transparent and they can see what we are talking about and how we want to move forward on healthcare reform. The president doesn’t want to send a plan to the Hill. He wants to set forth a set of values. “But he believes very firmly that we have to work with Congress to draft a policy and also address the revenue set of issues.” A question was fielded about how health insurance costs could be reduced while coverage is also increased when the experience of state efforts appeared to indicate it couldn’t be done. “In order to get costs under control, we’re going to have to look at this issue on a national level,” Barnes said. States are doing the best they can, particularly in the wake of federal inaction. But part of getting this under control will require that we have accessible and affordable health care for everyone so that we’re bringing more people into the system. And as a result of bringing more people into the system, we’re also helping to drive down costs. At the same time, there are other efficiencies that we want to put in place. The Medicare and Medicaid fund reforms that the president proposed in the budget also lead to cost savings and the funds that are going into the reserve fund are a part of this. Some of the things that we did through the recovery act and the investment in healthcare information technology are places where we will ultimately see increased savings. Part of the problem is that the states are taking very important steps forward, which are key, but piecemeal answers to what is an issue that needs to be resolved on a national level.” Barnes also addressed the issue of disparities in access to healthcare. “One of the ways we get costs under control is to increase accessibility and quality,” Barnes said. “We can’t have people using emergency rooms as primary care physicians. That’s not only a burden on them, it’s also a problem for the hospitals and it also impacts the bottom line for those who are already in the system. It just makes their healthcare more expensive. When the president talks about costs, he’s not excluding the fact that we have to expand accessibility for people. Disparities are something he talked about during his campaign. It’s something he continues to believe is important and is addressing and intends very clearly to address the disparities with regard to gender, race and ethnicity and those living in rural areas. He believes in strengthening our public healthcare system and by overall reform of our larger healthcare system.” Healthcare is one of the largest consumers of our gross domestic product, in essence, all of the value we produce each year, yet America lags behind many industrial nations in many leading health indicators. We are not getting our bang for our buck. Health care reform is coming — President Obama wants to act on it by October — but how it is reformed depends on who is involved in making the reform happen. It is important that all of us research this important issue and make our voices heard. The health of our nation rests in the balance. |
| An Icon of Justice Wisconsin 's Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson |
| Reflections/Jonathan Gramling Health reform begins now |
