from March: Daschle on American Healthcare

[Coexist]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-tom-daschle/progressive-solutions-to-_b_89590.html

The time is now for us to take this challenge head-on. What we need is a change in approach. In my book, Critical: What We Can Do About the American Health-Care Crisis, I have proposed a Federal Health Board that would be a foundation from which we could address all three problems. In many ways, the Federal Health Board would resemble our current Federal Reserve Board for the banking industry. Just as the Federal Reserve ensures certain standards, transparency and performance for our banking industry, the Fed Health would ensure harmonization across public programs of health-care protocols, benefits, and transparency. Ultimately, the Fed Health would offer a public framework within which a private health-care system could operate more effectively and efficiently.

The Fed Health could help reduce administrative costs. Roughly 30 cents of every dollar in health care is spent on administration rather than health benefits. Our administrative costs, on a per capita basis, are seven times higher than that of our peer nations. Each state has their own system for Medicaid and insurance regulation. We have different health-care systems for active duty military members versus veterans. And private insurers spend billions trying to enroll the healthy and avoid the sick. A Federal Health Board that sets evidence-based standards for benefits and quality for federal programs and insurance will lower this complexity and thus costs.

The Fed Health could also promote quality and save money by making the health-care system more transparent. Today, the lack of transparency in the system makes it virtually impossible for people to grasp what they are paying for and who provides them with the best care. This shroud of secrecy allows for wildly different prices for similar quality care. For example, a Pennsylvania report on heart surgery found hospitals with similar outcomes charge from $20,000 to $100,000. The Board, by ensuring transparency, would increase competition based on price and quality rather than cream skimming and cost sharing.

Additionally, the Fed Health could set standards for quality and coverage, promoting best practices and identifying the trade-offs on services. It would use information on the comparative clinical and cost effectiveness of different treatment options to set standards for Federal programs. The Congressional Budget Office recently credited this idea with the potential to produce substantial system-wide savings.

The book seems to have gotten some kudos for his proposals to find a fix to our healthcare problem; here is one:

http://americanaffairs.suite101.com/article.cfm/daschles_solution_to_health_care

Most of the world's successful health care systems do not employ third party payment-they don't use insurance companies. The government pays for it.

...

While Daschle admits that getting Americans to embrace a government-led system has its challenges given their sensitivities to socialized medicine, he does propose a plan.

Daschle believes that the answer lies in building on the system we currently have in place. The difference being that every American would be covered, regardless of employment status or pre-existing condition. And, the system would be regulated by a Federal Health Board (FHB). Employers would have a choice between keeping the health care plan they currently have with a private company, or choosing a public plan provided and regulated by the federal government. The federal health care plan would be the same or similar to what's currently offered to federal employees, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, or FEHP.

The Federal Health Board
The proposed Federal Health Board would be comprised of the most respected health care professionals, researchers and educators in the country, and would provide the framework in which the new health care system would operate.

...

He compares the right to adequate health care to the right to a proper education.

"Just as parents can choose to obtain private education for their children, employers and individuals would have the option of going outside the expanded FEHP for their health care coverage."

How to Pay for the Costs
And he advocates the federal government help pay the costs by providing a sliding scale to those in need. He suggests that no one pay more than a percentage of their income to help defray the costs of the universal system. He mentions a tax credit.

Here's a link to a video of an interview Daschle did with Steve Clemons earlier this year.



Has anyone read his book? I am curious about his ideas.

[Cleita]

1. I haven't read his book but if he wants to reduce administrative costs from

30%, then he's going to have to look at the single payer proposals such as suggested by the Harvard doctors who have done a brilliant job of researching all this at the Physicians For A National Health Plan website http://www.pnhp.org.

It's the only way to cover everyone with quality health care and reduce the administration costs to 2% to 3% like Medicare does.

[Coexist]

2. I'm going to have to get to the library to get a copy of the book

I've read a bunch of the reactions to the book, and now am really interested in reading it.