Just in case some liberal pundit says that the GOP does not have a health reform bill here is the proof that they actually do. Here is what it the Republican Bill (H.R. 2520) does:
1. It sets aside money for prevention of illness, outcome based prevention, changing the food stamp program to promote nutrition, and sets aside money for immunizations. (That food stamp thing might be great unintended benefit since nutrition and brain development go hand and hand.)
2. Creates State Based Health Exchanges. (Not sure if they are non profit or not)
3. Creates tax credit so Americans can afford health care. ($2290 per adult, $1710 per child with a cost of living adjustment. I'm not sure how this is paid for though.)
4. Modernizes Medicaid and provides assistance for low-income families.
5. Cuts Medicare for wealthy seniors, expands Medicare advantage, reduces fraud, waste, and abuse.
6. Gets rid of lawsuit abuse by creating state grants for health court solutions. (Too bad it didn't just cap all malpractice lawsuits at $250,000 unless there is proof of gross negligence like cutting off the wrong foot or something.)
7. Increases funding for health information technology. (Hopefully this codifies everything online so doctors and patients all work from the same set of assumptions.)
8. Creates something called the health care services commission. Their job is to promote transparency of price, quality, appropriateness, and effectiveness of health care. Hopefully they will print a list of how much each procedure costs and how much each plan covers all in one place. (It would be great repository of research for health care investors.)
9. Creates health care choice for Vets, American Indians, gets rid of the Council for Competitive Effectiveness Research, and compels the HHS and GAO to create a study about which 5 medical conditions have the greatest impact on health care in terms of cost. (I hope this study has some guidelines on how it will force those costs down.)
No comments:
Post a Comment