With healthcare a central voting issue for some Americans this November, AU students and faculty gathered in the Butler Board Room on Monday for The Second Bipartisan Presidential Healthcare Solutions Summit: Meeting Patients' Needs. The summit, hosted by AU's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the International Institute for Heath Promotion, brought together speakers from public, private and academic sectors to discuss the candidates policies and offer perspectives on the principle challenges facing the U.S. Healthcare System including access, cost, financing and quality and.
Colin Roskey, an AU graduate, represented the Bush campaign. Roskey worked closely with the administration in passing the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit in 2003. The policy, which had bipartisan support in Congress, is intended to give senior citizens lower cost prescription drugs and was heralded by Roskey as "the signature accomplishment of the president's first term healthcare plans."
The campaign also offered support for workers through Trade Adjustment Assistance, which gives workers whose employers move jobs overseas access to job retraining and a tax credit, which would cover up to 65 percent of heath insurance premiums for some families.
The latter, which maxes out at around $3,000, was criticized by Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler of Physicians for a National Health Program, who cited healthcare costs for the average eligible family at around $10,000, leaving unemployed families to cover the remaining $7,000 in premiums, a statistic which explains the extremely low rate (less than one percent of those eligible) of enrollment.
Also included was a plan to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the system via a commitment to increasing Healthcare IT and changing medical liability laws. These policies were central to both candidates' healthcare proposals with Roskey citing $20 billion in savings through "various programs" that would reduce errors, control waste and lower costs.
In terms of medical liability, both candidates propose the creation of medical review boards or panels before which each lawsuit would be required to come to prove merit prior to filing, eliminating all but the most egregious cases. Also outlined by the Kerry campaign is a "three strikes, you're out" policy for lawyers consistently perpetuating the problem of frivolous lawsuits.
Representing the Democratic ticket was Marilyn Yager, Health Outreach Adviser for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign. Yager expressed Senator Kerry's dedication to extending programs for the most vulnerable starting with an extension and federalization of Medicaid costs that would cover all children and 26.7 million Americans who are currently uninsured.
Citing that one percent of claims account for 30 percent of healthcare spending, Yager stressed the democratic commitment to helping cover the high-cost portion (75 percent) of catastrophic costs for businesses through a pooling system that will help stabilize premiums and reduce discrimination of older workers and other higher risk employees.
Another central issue that Yager mentioned sets Kerry apart is his support of a Patient Bill of Rights that would hold HMOs accountable for decisions that harm patients by denying necessary medical care. The same commitment applies to ensuring equality for patients through Mental Health Parity and programs aimed at ending disparities in minority health.
With 45 million Americans currently uninsured and the cost of healthcare premiums and prescription drugs continuing to rise each year, both candidates are faced with a healthcare crisis that moderator K.J. Lee describes as a time of both danger and opportunity.
The question now is how do we "preserve the good parts and fix the broken parts" while meeting the needs of all stakeholders, most importantly patients. As the U.S. government spends more on healthcare than any other developed nation, Lee stated that, "Throwing more money at it will not help."
For full outlines of both candidate's positions visit: www.georgewbush.com/HealthCare or www.johnkerry.com/issues/health_care
