Healthcare reform's basic goals are to contain costs, protect patient choice, and assure quality, affordable care.
Congress this year has the opportunity to finally do something about rising health care costs, the growing number of uninsured, and the discrepancy between having the best health care resources in the world with poor health outcomes to show for it. Working with President Obama, the 111th Congress has made health care a top priority, already laying the groundwork for comprehensive health care reform.
PRINCIPLES OF REFORM President Obama and Congressional Democrats are committed to enacting comprehensive health care reform that does the following:
Contains Costs We need to lower health care costs with a focus on prevention and wellness, up-to-date information technology, and the best, most cost-effective treatments so Americans can get the best value for their health care dollar. Today, only 4 cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health. It is also critical that we work to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid to lower costs and improve the programs by increasing efficiency and quality.
Protects Patient Choice of Doctors and Plans Democrats want to build upon the current system of employer-sponsored insurance, so that people who like what they have now can keep their current policies and doctors. We also want to preserve an element so key to American life: choice. We want a system that guarantees patients their choice of insurance coverage and their choice of doctors.
Assures quality, affordable care for everyone A key goal of reform is to ensure people can access the treatment they need when they need it. Forty-five million Americans – or almost one in five– are without health insurance. Millions more are ‘underinsured,’ lacking adequate coverage to meet their needs. Furthermore, approximately $56 billion in uncompensated care for the uninsured is absorbed annually by the health system, driving up the cost of insurance for everyone. Democrats support policies that will strengthen private and public coverage and make affordable health care available to all. In addition, proposed reforms will:
Offer options to Americans who lose their job or switch jobs.
Cover people with pre-existing conditions. Every day in America, someone is denied coverage for something their doctor recommends, and millions of people go without vital health care.
Make investments in prevention, wellness and patient-centered care.
Give doctors and nurses the science-based information they need to provide the best, individualized treatments for their patients.
Crack down on the waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system and prevent insurers from passing on excessive administrative costs.
