I must applaud Obama on his openness to suggestions for change in healthcare. I suppose it is fitting considering his whole presidential “Change” campaign.  Recently he released a statement encouraging states to find solutions to health care.

He said, “If your State can create a plan that covers as many people as affordably and comprehensively as the Affordable Care Act does – without increasing the deficit – you can implement that plan, and we’ll work with you to do it.  I’ve said before, I don’t believe that either party holds a monopoly on good ideas.  And I will go to bat for whatever works, no matter who or where it comes from.”

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury proposed rules for states implementing their own health strategies on March 10,2011. Their goal is for states to help residents obtain high quality, affordable health care while nationwide health reform is still underway.

State Innovation Waivers are designed to allow States to implement policies that differ from the new law so long as they:

• Provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive as the coverage offered under the Affordable Care Act.
• Make coverage at least as affordable as it would have been through the Affordable Care Act.
• Provide coverage to at least as many residents as the Affordable Care Act would have provided.
• Do not increase the Federal deficit.

It is great that Obama is creating flexibility for states to reform health without so much red tape, but it does make me wonder a bit if it is a cop-out for not knowing how to change America for the better by himself.  Maybe he is hoping that one of the states will come up with a stellar plan that can then be implemented nationwide…which would not be a bad thing because it maybe be better and quicker than the solutions that Obama comes up with. These innovation experiments can’t hurt because as stated above it guarantees that citizens are receiving at least as good of coverage as the Affordable Care Act. Passing the torch to the states might just be the best health idea Obama has had yet!

Read more on the topic here

Obama has proposed a solution for all of these problems and more with a new health care plan that is starting to be implemented. According to the White House, under the Affordable Care Act, which was passed March 3, 2010, health insurance is mandated for all citizens—similar to current car insurance.  To make this possible, it will have the largest tax cuts for health care in history for the middle class—it will make it possible for tens of millions of families and small business owners to afford insurance.  It also lays out stricter rules for insurance companies to keep premiums low.  Also in an effort to make insurance available and affordable for every citizen, it illegalized discrimination against pre-existing conditions.  Another bill that was signed into law is the Children’s Health Insurance Reauthorization Act, which provides quality health care to 11 million children – 4 million who were previously uninsured.  Obama’s plan is aiming to shorten the gap of health disparities in America.

Although all of these parts of the Affordable Care Act sound great, the act poses a few problems as well. First, it will lower the amount paid to doctors for medical services under Medicaid and Medicare.  Insurance companies pay a certain percentage above Medicaid/care costs so as the government lowers the amount paid, the insurance price will also be lowered.  For example, a surgery costs $1,500 through Medicaid.  A person with private insurance will pay 20% more equaling $1,800.  If the law mandates that the government will only pay $1,000 now then the insurance companies will lower their amount paid to $1,200.  Granted, some doctors make more money than reasonable and can afford that pay cut, but some doctors may not be able to continue practicing and many may shut their doors to government patients.  This is especially a relevant problem now because there are shortages of primary care providers because of so many physicians going into specialties.

Second, Obama’s health care plan spends much more money than before and could be detrimental to America’s economy. According to Republicans in Congress, the health care plan includes almost $1 trillion dollars in spending and will cause health spending to jump even more than the originally projected 16.6% to 17.6% of GDP (gross domestic product) this year alone.  Six billion dollars of this budget is proposed to help cancer research—yet the law also imposes pharmaceutical cost controls that will discourage companies from wanting to invest in developing new cancer treatments.  With the Affordable Care Act, many businesses will be required to provide insurance to their employees or put money into a government fund to cover the uninsured.  With the desperate state of the economy now, this financial burden is the last thing businesses need. Obama’s plan may prove to be successful in the end with a few amendments, but there are still a few bumps in the road on the journey to efficient and effective health care in the U.S.

What a better way to start off a blog than with the State of the Union address with the start of the year! Just days ago, President Obama addressed the nation around the theme of  “winning the future”. Healthcare reform, as expected, was one of the top priorities in winning the future.  As our baby boomers are aging and the nation is going more into debt (check out the current debt and breakdown), we need to get Medicaid, Medicare, and our health system organized and under control.

President Obama received laughs when he joked that, “Now, I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law.”  He went on to say that anything can be improved and is eager to work to create better and more affordable care.  Among needed changes, he states removing, “unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses”. He talked about the importance that the insurance companies should not deny coverage to those with preexisting conditions and used specific stories of people to pull on the heart strings of listeners, yet did not really address issues of health care besides that he is willing to change. He ended with, “So I say to this chamber tonight, instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and let’s move forward.”  I give him accolades for recognizing the need for health care reform, but there does come a point at which there is too much to fix and it is easier to just start over.

To watch or read the address for yourself click here.