Ryan, Coburn, Burr, Nunes, Republican Health Care Alternative

1. The PDF link

2. The Patients' Choice Act

3. Long Summary, which turns out to be the same link as #1.

This is what I got under the Long Summary:

                                           The Patients’ Choice Act

The health care system in America is broken. Costs are rising at an unacceptable rate—more than doubling over the last 10 years, which is nearly four times the rate of wage growth.1 Too many patients feel trapped by healthcare decisions dictated by HMOs. Too many doctors are torn between practicing medicine and practicing insurance. And 47 million Americans worry what will happen to them or their children if they get sick.

Although our health care system has major problems, it also has major potential. We have the best doctors in the world…the best scientists in the world… the best hospitals in the world. About 70 percent of Nobel Prizes in medicine come from the United States, and five of the six most important medical discoveries over the past 25 years are American.2 Now America needs the best health care system in the world. The Patients’ Choice Act would remove the barriers that separate Americans from high‐value health care by enhancing individual purchasing power and creating rational government rules.

We can make the current system work by returning to certain core principles. Protecting the doctor‐patient relationship and ensuring patient choice is fundamental to any reform. Prioritizing the needs of patients and doctors must be fundamental. Creating a market that plays by the rules is the most powerful force to increase quality and make health care more affordable. Putting health care decisions in the hands of patients, allowing them to choose the care they want and the care they need, will finally link costs to quality. Patients would benefit from having more information on quality and costs. Rather than patients appealing denials of care or waiting to see a health care provider, insurance companies and doctors should compete for patients. Universal access to affordable health care for all Americans should be guaranteed. Congress should enact a comprehensive solution that will make our healthcare system work for every American every time.

The Patients’ Choice Act would give every American the opportunity to choose the health care plan that best meets their individual needs. It will utilize state‐driven exchanges to facilitate real competition between private plans and give Americans—for the first time—a choice of health care plans. Insurers should be able to provide packages which offer care for patients suffering from chronic conditions. Unlike the government‐driven change being advertized today, it will truly achieve portability so that workers can take benefits with them when they change jobs. Rather than Washington and company CEOs, the Patients’ Choice Act puts patients in control. This solution will actually fix the incentives in the health care system so that health providers and insurers provide higher quality plans at lower cost. This is the kind of change America’s health care system needs.

In solving our health care crisis, Americans already know that government‐run programs are not the solution. Washington and state bureaucracies already control more than 59.8 percent of health care spending.3 But programs run by the government are plagued with waste, fraud, and abuse. More than $60 billion is lost each year to Medicare fraud.4 And over 10 percent of Medicaid money— over $32 billion—is spent improperly each year, with that number reaching 40 percent in some states. 5,6 And tragically, patients in government programs suffer worse health outcomes than patients in plans like the BlueCross/BlueShield standard option.7 Why does our health care system fail so many patients? The answer begins and ends with government intervention.

Can someone please show me where and how this summary of the The Patients’ Choice Act of 2009 is going to give every American, regardless of employment status, age, or health condition, the ability and the resources to purchase health insurance? Quick...I need to know!

ex animo

davidfarrar

So by ending the employer health benefit tax break will reduce health care costs to a level where I, as a working man, can once again afford health care for me and my family?

All I can say now is, my company takes full advantage of the employer health benefit tax break, but only covers roughly 50% of its employees, leaving the other 50% to vend for themselves and the public. If they were allowed to forgo this tax break, how would that lower health care costs to a point where the 50% without company health care benefits could now afford health care?

To address your first question. I remember the last time the issue of universal health care was suggested by the Democrats. There, again, Republicans promised that health care costs would go down and services would go up if only we defeated a government run, universal health care system. It didn't happen. Health care costs have risen ever since, far, far beyond the inflation rate. So you can see why, as a Republican, I take it with a grain of salt now when some Republican legislators tell me that their plan will reduce health care costs.

ex animo

davidfarrar

If you won't be satisfied until you get a government entitlement, why the heck are you looking to the Republicans?

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