By: Greg Vigdor, WHF President & CEO
President Barack Obama initiated his final push for health reform at the White House yesterday by stating that these reform efforts actually started last March. That would seem to be a short term view of this journey; even this latest reform surge looks to have started as far back as late 2008. But the real quest for health reform started even earlier. Perhaps the original call for major national health reform began in 1932 with the release of the recommendations of the Committee on Costs of Medical Care; many of their recommendations remain the prescription for what ails us today.
All to say, it is time to move ahead. The legislation that the President spoke to is hardly perfect. He has taken out some of the sweetheart political deals, and the legislation still fails, in our opinion, to really bend the cost curve and demonstrably lower costs. On the other hand, it does reform away some of the worst abuses of insurance companies, provides many millions of Americans with health coverage who don’t have it now (importantly providing a stronger basis to build a fairer system); and seems to still include the prevention advances that our Campaign spent so much time working on over the past year.
Our view: pass it and do it soon. And then let us all move on to the work that will still be undone. That is, making the partial solutions in the reform bill, and the good features of our current system, the basis for the next phase of achieving real comprehensive HEALTH reform. Not just insurance reform. Not just additional coverage using the current system for those who are uninsured. Not just government oriented public health solutions.
Rather, building the next round of solutions through those that care the most about our health. Us. Even as the White House and Congress poise for the next political volleys between now and Easter, we are preparing for this next phase. The Healthiest State in the Nation Campaign will roll out the latest innovations to our Health HoME Project--a series of tools to help people take control of their health. Spring is the time of renewal, and we aim to renew the quest for the health of Washingtonians, through both the health care system and our own ability as individuals to take action.
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