Opportunity beckons to improve health-care coverage

A strong Democratic majority in Congress will have the opportunity to do something bold to reform an ailing health-care system, according to the president of the Larimer County Medical Society.

“They certainly have an opportunity now because they have both houses,´ said John Bender, M.D., noting the clear majority the Democrats will have in the U.S. Senate next year following the Nov. 4 election. “What will limit them the most is the economic situation. The good news is that, with appropriate reforms, we don’t need to spend more but to spend it differently to secure better options and I believe President-elect (Barack) Obama understands this.”

Obama’s health-care reform plan, outlined during his campaign, does not call for a nationalized, single-payer health-care system like that used in Canada, Britain and other nations. Central to Obama’s plan is the continuation of employer-sponsored, private insurance health plans for those who are satisfied with them. But the program also includes a “new public plan” that would allow people to buy into the same kind of coverage federal employees have, with tax credits to help make coverage affordable.

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Bender, who favors a single-payer-type health-care system, said that kind of sweeping change will have to wait for now.

“I think (Democrats) will be looking at incremental health-care reform as a practical matter because of the budget,” he said.

Bender noted that one thing that should be done as soon as possible is to provide incentives for hospitals and physicians to convert to electronic records and upgrade their information technology systems.

“In the coming months there will be greater incentives and awards for IT infrastructure, getting more physicians on electronic records and the ability to transfer data from facility to facility,” he said. “Long term, it reduces waste because the number of duplicate tests goes down.”

Bender said he hopes change is accomplished through positive incentives and not through disincentives that might reduce the already short supply of family doctors. “My greatest concern is I don’t want to see federal legislation that will punish physicians too much for not adopting,” he said. “The 55-and-older docs need incentives or they may just retire or change jobs and give up their practice.”

Bender said if one wanted to look at what a single-payer health care program might look like, they would not have to look any further than the nation’s Medicare program.

“If we had a Medicare-type program for all, I’d be for it,” he said. “It’s a fantastic program. If we did the same thing for younger people, we’d have so many lives saved.”