ABC Feb. 22 urged President Obama in an open letter to consider solutions to the health care debate that will lower costs without burdening taxpayers or impairing economic recovery. The letter was sent in response to Obama’s health care proposal and in advance of the bipartisan health care summit to be held Feb. 26.
In the letter, ABC along with the nine other organizations that make up the Start Over coalition, listed seven strategies to create meaningful health are reform and urged solutions that are equitable and do not favor one group or constituency over another.
“We hope that this week’s bipartisan summit meeting will enable a fresh approach that can conquer the partisan divide and regain the confidence of the American public,” the letter stated.
The strategies listed by the Start Over coalition include insurance market reform to address the cost and availability of coverage; wellness/preventative incentives to encourage healthier behaviors; changing how we reimburse providers from a piecemeal approach to pay-for-service methods to increase accountability and decrease costs; adopting a health information technology infrastructure to reduce waste and fragmentation of care; implementing comparable tax treatment for plans regardless of who purchases them; allowing greater competition across state boundaries through exchanges or multi-state purchasing; and reforming medical malpractice laws.
However, the coalition also pointed out that existing health care reform bills include strategies that nullify or minimize the impact of these strategies.
“While many of these strategies are present in whole, in part or in name in the legislation previously passed by the House and Senate, our groups continue to oppose those measures due to the inclusion of vast employer mandates, free rider penalties, high dollar excise taxes and other new taxes on businesses and individuals,” the letter stated.
Obama’s proposal, issued Feb. 22, no longer excludes the construction industry from the small business exemptions for employer mandates, but still contained many other provisions ABC opposes.
ABC also sent a letter Feb. 24 as part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Health Care to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging similar solutions to health care reform.
For more information, contact Geoffrey Burr at ABC,
burr@abc.org.