It's no secret that President-elect Barack Obama has big plans for health care. During his campaign against Republican Sen. John McCain, the Illinois Democrat said reducing healthcare costs and expanding coverage would be his second-highest priority (after energy policy) if he were elected president. Now that he's cleared the electoral hurdle, some experts are questioning whether Mr. Obama will be able to achieve his healthcare goals in the midst of a financial crisis. "I have no inside track, but I would bet that in this economic climate it is far more likely that changes will be phased in over time," Karen Davis, president of the health policy and research group the Commonwealth Fund, tells the health information Web site WebMD.
Still, Mr. Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office in January 2009 with a decisive electoral victory and strong Democratic majorities in the House and Senate behind them, which could help their healthcare reform plan become a reality. Here are some elements of the plan that could have an impact on the ambulatory surgery industry.
Health IT. The plan would phase in requirements for the implementation of health information technology and invest $10 billion a year over the next five years toward the adoption of "standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records."
A focus on quality. It would require hospitals and providers to "collect and publicly report measures of healthcare costs and quality," such as preventable errors, disparities, staffing data and infection rates and require insurers to "disclose the percentage of premiums that actually goes to paying for patient care as opposed to administrative costs."
Malpractice reform. It would improve laws to prevent malpractice insurers from overcharging physicians and would develop "new models for addressing physician errors" that "reduce the need for malpractice suits."
Expanded coverage. To reduce the number of uninsured Americans, which currently stands at about 46 million, the Obama plan would require all children to have healthcare coverage and all employers except small businesses to provide or contribute to coverage for their employees. It would also create a National Health Insurance Exchange to give individuals and small businesses the opportunity to purchase affordable private or public plans.
More competition. To reduce costs, Mr. Obama pledges to take on "anticompetitive actions in the drug and insurance companies." For example, his plan calls for ending "unjustified price increases" by insurance firms and allowing the importation of safe prescription drugs from outside the U.S. It also proposes the elimination of "excessive subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans."
The full text of the plan is available on Mr. Obama's Web site.
—Irene Tsikitas
