The CEO of the Tufts Health Plan, who is the grandson of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a member of President Barack Obama’s transition team, is urging universal healthcare.
James Roosevelt, Jr. called attention Thursday night to the plight of the 45 million Americans who are uninsured. He also noted that the use of information technology is a critical piece of reform.
Roosevelt delivered the keynote talk to an audience of more than 600 healthcare providers, payers and healthcare IT company executives at the Transforming Healthcare Summit 2009 in Boston. He later participated on a panel with Partners CIO John Glaser; Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare CEO Charlie Baker and athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush.
"It's shameful that we have not yet found a way to reconcile what we do with what we say we value," Roosevelt said, invoking Obama's position on healthcare reform.
Roosevelt also noted - as Obama has noted in the past - that the largest reason for bankruptcy in America is the crushing cost of healthcare.
"This is wrong, and we must do better," he said.
He suggested that reform should be achieved by reshaping what already exists as opposed to building from scratch.
Roosevelt said he is mindful of failed attempts at healthcare reform in the past, but believes the political will is there to turn reform into reality.
"What used to be abstract is very real right now," he said. "We also live in a period of great hopefulness, I believe."
Legislation on healthcare must be focused on four reforms:
- Insuring quality and effectiveness. This is the area in which the use of healthcare information technology is critical, he noted.
- Improving a deteriorating primary care system.
- Transparency in the cost and quality of care.
- Addressing race and income disparity
Roosevelt punctuated his talk by once again quoting Obama: "The cost of healthcare has weighted down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough."