Congress is brewing up some recipes for healthcare reform, and quite a few cooks are expected to crowd into a very hot kitchen. Congressional leaders have called for a final bill by this summer. The unanswered questions likely to draw the most heat are: how to pay for the reform and how far will the plan lean toward universal mandated care?
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), a longtime healthcare reform advocate and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is pushing a solution that aligns incentives to promote "high-quality, appropriate and coordinated healthcare." This is an idea both parties can get their hands around: measuring performance and rewarding efficient care.
Measuring performance is going to take technology. The newly appointed federal healthcare IT czar, David Blumenthal, worked on Kennedy's health staff from 1977 to 1980. This should be a useful connection for easing into the "meaningful use" of healthcare IT, a requirement under the stimulus package for Medicare and Medicaid providers who hope to get paid tens of thousands of dollars in bonuses.
Health IT is just part of the groundwork for change. The president is campaigning hard for healthcare reform in his new budget, saying without healthcare reform there can be no economic recovery. Obama's plan would mandate care for all children, but provide an affordable public health insurance option for Americans who do not want, or cannot get, insurance through their employer.
Republicans are wary of any kind of healthcare plan that might "crowd out" or squeeze private insurers from the market. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has put some fears to rest in saying a federal single-payer system would never be allowed on the table as an option for healthcare reform.
Recent findings of a study by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Consumer Watchdog bring Baucus' motives – and those of other framers of healthcare reform – into question. The study shows that health insurers and drug companies made hefty campaign contributions to Congressional leaders over the past two election cycles. Insurers gave $2.2 million, while drug manufacturers gave $3.3 million to the top 10 recipients in both the House and Senate.
Baucus, considered a key player in the upcoming push for reform, received $183,750 from health insurance companies and $229,020 from drug companies –more than any other current Democrat in Congress, Consumer Watchdog said.