Obama's Healthcare Reform Proposal - Your Chance to Weigh In

I listened to President Obama's healthcare reform address to the American Medical Association. Healthcare reform will affect every American, both through our health, and through our wallets. While Mr. Obama stood at the podium of the AMA to address its membership, at times he also addressed we American patients.

Here's some background:

• This address was presented to the American Medical Association, the AMA. The AMA membership is comprised of 250,000 physician-members. That represents about 1/3 of the physicians in the United States.
  
• When we talk about healthcare reform, we are talking about three major aspects: First -- the health of every American, second, every American having access to healthcare and third, the cost of care. That means that doctors know that any reform measures will affect their income directly, and will affect how busy their days are.
  
• The current healthcare reward system in America is set up so that doctors are rewarded for the quantity of care they provide (the numbers of patients they see, and the numbers of procedures they perform) and not the quality of care they provide (how healthy their patients are.)

Why is it important to understand the audience?

Because even though patients and providers should have the same goals, they don't always have the same goals. Most providers go to medical school and begin practicing medicine because they want to help patients. It doesn't take them long to figure out they need to attend to business and income first, then patients later. That means that if Mr. Obama couldn't help them see that they will be better off financially WITH his ideas for healthcare reform than without them, then he would never meet with success.

And so he did. Here are some of the points Mr. Obama proposes that will help us patients within the confines of what works well for doctors, too. Remember, these are proposals. They are far from a done deal.

1. If you like your doctor(s) and you like your health plan, you may keep them. No one will try to take them away from you.


2. Reform does not equal socialized medicine nor does it mean single payer medicine. The government is not going to stand between patients and their doctors.


3. Prevention is important. The system Mr. Obama proposes will reward doctors for the quality of care they provide, and not the quantity of care they provide. That includes rewarding them for improved health in their patients.


4. Mr. Obama proposes a "health insurance exchange" where -- just like Federal employees and Congress -- patients will be able to choose from a variety of insurance options that fit their needs and their wallets.


5. The exchange will include a public insurance option. That means an option that will work like Medicare and will be affordable to everyone.


6. Insurers will no longer be able to deny insurance for pre-existing conditions. Mr. Obama called it "cherry picking" their customers.

There's a lot to like in Mr. Obama's proposal. There are some sticking points and some question marks, too. Why not read President Obama's entire healthcare reform address to the AMA, then come back and tell us what you think?

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