If there is any message that has come from this summer's town hall meetings throughout the country, it is that the American public is unhappy with how health care reform is being approached by Congress. As the only physician in the Maryland Senate, I know how legislatures approach health care issues. Politicians are usually tone-deaf to those who know the most about the issue - patients and their health care providers.
We all want reform - but not the over-reaching measures promoted in the current bills. We have to strengthen and broaden individual decision-making. Serious efforts to bring down the cost to families while preserving patient choice should include several elements.
There are things we can all agree on: covering those who can't afford insurance, lowering costs, making insurance portable, and covering pre-existing conditions. In addition, in areas like Maryland's Eastern Shore, any reform plan must address the need to attract physicians to smaller towns and rural areas in order to increase health care quality and access everywhere. These are common sense goals that offer real reform and don't require a government takeover of our health care and medical decisions.
Perhaps the most significant element of reform involves bringing market forces to bear on health care insurers. Creating a health care "exchange" allows for affordable, accessible and portable insurance for millions of Americans. An "exchange" would let everyone choose their health care insurance from a broad range of options and allow their employer to help pay for it. Competition among insurers would bring down the cost of health care insurance, just as it brings down the cost of car or homeowners insurance.
Under this system, people could choose an insurance policy that exactly fits their families' needs and their budgets, be able to take that coverage with them from job to job, and be able to "fire" their insurance company if it doesn't treat them well. Our current system, which locks most people into the insurance their employer offers, doesn't do this. An exchange would also offer competitively priced insurance to millions who are unemployed, self-employed, or who work for an employer who can't afford to offer insurance. But including a government ("public option") insurance plan or even a "co-op" option is not the solution. Finally, insurance should also be made available across state lines.
Other changes are also needed. They include:
