The Bipartisan Policy Center on Thursday released what it hopes will be “a viable political plan to reign in the spiraling costs” of healthcare while also improving quality.
Jason Grumet described the report, A Bipartisan Rx for Patient-Centered Care and System-Wide Cost Containment, as “one of the most challenging projects we’ve undertaken.” The report was signed by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici and former Congressional Budget Office Director Alice Rivlin.
“There is no fiscal solution that doesn’t involve healthcare,” said Michael Peterson, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation during Thursday’s media event introducing the report, adding that healthcare has its own challenges.
Take the payment system, for instance. “Fee-for-service and the fragmentation of healthcare delivery fail to encourage quality, value and coordination,” said Rivlin, senior fellow in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institute and a visiting professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. “Our primary motivation is to improve the health system for patients and their families.”
The report makes recommendations in four categories: improving and enhancing Medicare to incent quality and care coordination; reforming tax policy; incenting and empowering states to contain costs and enhance care through delivery, payment, workforce and liability reform; and prioritizing quality, prevention and wellness.
All told, the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates that its suggestions could reduce the deficit by $560 billion across 10 years – and it’s Medicare proposals could save nearly $300 billion in that time and $1.25 trillion over 20 years.