PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has urged doctors to back his plan to reform the American healthcare system, which he described as a threat to the US economy and “a ticking time bomb” for the federal budget.
Mr Obama made his plea in a speech to the American Medical Association (AMA), a doctors’ group that has helped to block earlier attempts at healthcare reform. “We are spending over $2 trillion a year on healthcare – almost 50 per cent more per person than the next most costly nation. And yet, for all this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured; the quality of our care is often lower; and we aren’t any healthier. In fact, citizens in some countries that spend less than we do are actually living longer than we do,” the president said.
“Make no mistake: the cost of our healthcare is a threat to our economy. It is an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It is a ticking time bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America.”
Mr Obama has asked Congress to produce a healthcare reform Bill before the summer recess but it remains unclear what form any legislation will take.
The White House, along with most congressional Democrats, wants a plan that will guarantee coverage to every American but will lower costs by changing incentives within the system.
“What accounts for the bulk of our costs is the nature of our healthcare system itself – a system where we spend vast amounts of money on things that aren’t making our people any healthier; a system that automatically equates more expensive care with better care,” Mr Obama said yesterday.
“It is a model that rewards the quantity of care rather than the quality of care; that pushes you, the doctor, to see more and more patients even if you can’t spend much time with each; and gives you every incentive to order that extra MRI or EKG, even if it’s not truly necessary. It is a model that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession – a calling – to a business.”
The AMA has embraced the need for some change but the doctors’ group has joined forces with private health insurers and Republicans in Congress to oppose Mr Obama’s plan to allow a publicly-funded health insurance programme to compete with private insurers. Private insurance companies claim that a public programme would force them out of business, while doctors worry that their fees could be cut.
Mr Obama said yesterday that he was open to limiting medical malpractice claims, which some doctors blame for their use of so many expensive but pointless tests and treatments. The president also suggested that the whole system of compensating doctors should be overhauled.
“We need to bundle payments so you aren’t paid for every single treatment you offer a patient with a chronic condition like diabetes, but instead are paid for how you treat the overall disease,” he said.
“We need to create incentives for physicians to team up – because we know that when that happens, it results in a healthier patient. We need to give doctors bonuses for good health outcomes – so that we are not promoting just more treatment, but better care.”