Last week the Dallas Chamber hosted an event that brought together community leaders to discuss federal healthcare reform and where it currently stands. Although there was snow falling outside the Park City Club, the event inside lived up to its’ name of healthcare “hot” topic series. The moderator and panelists discussed a wide variety of issues as they pertained to federal healthcare legislation and fielded numerous questions from an inquisitive audience.
Panelists answer audience questions on healthcare reform.
During his opening remarks David Toomey, President of CIGNA HealthCare, provided the insurance perspective of what must be done to move the system from “sick care” to “health care”. This included removing the pre-existing conditions clause found in both bills that will entice individuals to not carry insurance until they become sick and then begin to pay into the program in order to receive care. This would be particularly true for younger generations that are in college or beginning to enter the workforce that Toomey characterized as the ‘invincibles’.
The information technology component was a key point stressed during the program; particularly the ability for physicians to build and maintain systems in their private practices. Stephen Mansfield remarked that on the larger hospital side, “we desperately need electronic health records so that we’re not fooling with any paper and so that we can take advantage of all the different safety measures that comes with having an IT system.” One example given by the President of Methodist Health System was bar-coding for medications to guarantee that the right patient receives the right drug, for the right amount, at the right time, and this will add tremendously to clinical patient safety.
Then, in response to an inquiry on high drug costs that burden the United States, Frank Sheeder of Jones Day stated that, “we bear a lot of the cost for the R&D and we also bear the tort liability in this country and the markets are much more friendly overseas on those issues.” U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess also chimed in that it is a trade issue and invokes some safety problems with medications manufactured outside our borders. As well, he pushed that the U.S. Trade Representative needs to actively protect our intellectual property and should do so aggressively to aide in curbing domestic costs.
David Toomey, Frank Sheeder, Michael Burgess, and Stephen Mansfield
As a part of federal health reform, you might have heard of several ‘deals’ that the White House made with various groups of the healthcare industry to help curve costs by upwards of $2 Trillion. Congressman Burgess shared with the audience about his Resolution of Inquiry delivered to the Obama Administration as to exactly what agreements were made behind closed doors with industry leaders in May of 2009. While a response was eventually received from the Counsel to the President, it was deemed inadequate and a new letter requesting the information has been penned by Burgess along with fellow Congressmen Henry Waxman and Joe Barton.
The general consensus of the panel seemed to be the same as what you will hear across the nation – nobody really knows what to expect in the near future. It was said that if something is not done by the end of March, then a complete overhaul will have the same fate as the Clinton health care plan of the early 90’s. The televised meeting on February 25th at the White House will be a chance for Democrats and Republicans to come together and try to work out compromises on the legislation. This of course will be a pivotal meeting on the reform bills but will undoubtedly be filled with political jockeying. This is unfortunate because, as Mr. Sheeder described, the healthcare system is “wrought with confusion… waste and abuse” and something needs to be done – I think most in this nation would agree with him.
Special thanks to the event sponsors BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, Methodist Health System, and Genesis Physicians Group for making the Healthcare Hot Topics Series possible. Please look for the next event on March 30th where we will be discussing transparency in the healthcare system.
