A Medical Device Daily
ATLANTA — In December when members of the American College of Cardiology (ACC, Washington) were planning for this year's healthcare reform forum, the focus was going to be geared toward implementation of a new bill that was already signed into law. Little did ACC members know that lawmakers would still not have settled on a plan.
For about an hour and thirty minutes at this year's annual ACC meeting held here in Atlanta, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) hashed it out with Chris Jennings, who serves as president of Jennings Policy Strategies (JPS), a nationally-respected health policy and advocacy consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
The session turned into a full-fledged debate and for several moments during the discussion the two went back and forth sharply divided over the upcoming healthcare bill.
“[This plan] federalizes the regulation of healthcare, Ryan told the audience. “This is the creation of a new open entitlement program that will rival the cost of Medicare and Medicaid.“
Ryan, who comes from a family of cardiologists as well as his uncle serving as past ACC President, added that Medicare and Medicaid already have an under filled promise of $76 trillion.
“This is not a path to go down,“ he said. “We believe that the healthcare system should hook the patient back up with the doctor. We want to fix what's broken in healthcare and not break what's working in healthcare.“
Ryan,who is also the House Budget Committee Ranking Republican, said that the bill in its form gives the government way too much control in the healthcare market.
“What smart 22-year-old wanting to go into the field of medicine would say that they wanted to rack up $300,000 in student loans just so they could be a de facto employee of the federal government.“
Instead Ryan is proposing a plan that would:
• Provide a refundable tax credit — $2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families — to purchase coverage in any state, and keep it with them if they move or change jobs.
• Allow Medicaid recipients to take part in the same variety of options by using the tax credit to purchase high-quality care;
• and establish and fully fund Medical Savings Accounts (MSA) for low-income beneficiaries to cover out-of-pocket costs, while continuing to allow all beneficiaries, regardless of income, to set up tax-free MSAs.
Jennings, who said that he highly disagreed with Ryan's stance and parts of his plan instead said that rhetoric and fear were the two leading causes of opposition to President Obama's healthcare plan.
“Healthcare reform is far too often fought over fear,“ he told the audience. “The language of socialism, rationing, one size fits all . . . “This is the language we hear all the time, as if our current system is nirvana. We need to step back and say we need to stop the rhetoric and role up our sleeves.“
He said that many organizations were at the table because they see the inadequacies in healthcare. Jennings then made a volley to gain support for President Obama's healthcare bill.
“They know the current trendline is unsustainable and we need a change. The mistake is not to take the opportunity to shake the system up.“
But there still remains the question if the bill under consideration – which was already passed in the House, will be signed into law. There has been some opposition from Democrats who say that parts of the bill need to be fixed and that a plan to address those sketchy parts after passage would be too difficult and complicated.
According to the Associated Press The House contains 253 Democrats, but a number of those lawmakers are certain to vote against the bill. In a recent survey 34 Democrats are judged to be a “firm no,“ “leaning no,“ or “likely no.“ An additional 73 Democrats are categorized as “undecided.“
Ryan told the group that his best guess was that Democrats were down seven to 10 votes in order for passage, but he cautioned the audience against counting out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and said she could easily gain those votes.
“We can't turn this safety net into a hammock,“ Ryan told the audience. “But the problem is that our safety net has gaping holes in it.“
As it stands a vote on healthcare could come late in the week. One thing that both sides agree with is that healthcare does need some type of reform measure.
“We do have problems in healthcare that need to be fixed,“ Ryan said. “Costs are going through the roof.“
Omar Ford, 404-262-5546;