Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

HSAs, medical liability reform get strong White House support.

In spite of ongoing glitches with the new Medicare drug plan, rising health care costs and millions of uninsured Americans, President George W. Bush assures the nation that the federal government is meeting its responsibility to provide health care for the poor and the elderly in his Jan. 31 State of the Union address.

"Keeping America competitive requires affordable health care," says the President. "We must confront the rising cost of care, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and help people afford the insurance coverage they need." Bush went on to outline his key health care initiatives for 2006, which include wider use of electronic health records and other health information technology, strengthening health savings accounts, and passing medical liability reform.

Health IT initiatives will help control costs and reduce dangerous medical errors, Bush asserts. Consumer-driven health care initiatives, which have sparked debate in Congress, also top the President's goals for this year. Bush's support for portable HSAs aims to equip low-income individuals with "the same [health care] advantages that people working for big businesses now get." In addition, the President's support for medical liability reform proposes to deter lawsuits from "driving many good doctors out of practice." Bush's Initiatives Meet With Criticism--And Support Democrats had a different perspective on some of the President's health care initiatives, including Gov. Tim Kaine's (D-VA) response to the President's address. "Skyrocketing costs are hurting small businesses and pushing millions of working Americans into the ranks of the uninsured," notes Kaine. The governor went on to criticize the Part D's problematic rollout, which was notably absent from Bush's address. "[Beneficiaries] find getting their medicine to be more complex, more expensive and less reliable," he contends.

On the Democrats' behalf, Kaine suggests refocusing health care reform to do a better job of serving consumers, such as assisting seniors with purchasing American-made drugs from other countries at lower prices. "Republicans and Democrats alike have banded together to fight the administration's efforts to slash Medicaid and push more costs on to the states," Kaine adds.

In addition, the American Medical Association offered its support to Bush's consumer-driven health care initiatives in a Jan. 31 statement following the President's address. "[W]e must engage patients as partners to successfully manage costs and achieve greater value from the resources devoted to health care," says AMA president J. Edward Hill. AMA's 2006 advocacy agenda includes reforming Medicare's physician payments, expanding coverage for the uninsured, improving public health, improving patient safety and quality, and reforming managed care, says Hill. Budget Bill Passes House Vote, Awaits President's Signature In related news, the 2006 budget reconciliation bill finally passed Congress Feb. 1 after its second trip to the House of Representatives. The [...]