HOWARD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
POSITION PAPER ON HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM
The Howard County Medical Society HCMS) supports the need to address Health Care Reform and recommends Congress take the necessary time to address the complex economic and ethical issues involved, and allowing substantial input from the American people.
We recognize that our country faces economic and health care challenges. Millions of people are uninsured, and underinsured. Many of our people seek care in alternative situations rather than from a primary care physician and have no access to appropriate specialty care. We therefore agree with constructive efforts to improve our health insurance and healthcare system.
Howard County Medical Society is committed to achieving health system reform that:
- Protects the doctor patient relationship without interference by insurance carriers or the government
- Eliminates health insurance denials for pre-existing conditions and cancellation of health insurance policies
- Provides portability of health care insurance
- Eliminates the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula (SGR) for reimbursing physicians
- Promotes quality, preventive health and wellness initiatives
- Expands the availability of affordable health care coverage to the uninsured and creates avenues to increase the physician workforce
- Increases Medicare payments for primary care services without reducing pay to other specialists
- Includes major medical liability reform initiatives
The county medical society feels strongly that until medical liability reform is enacted, the practice of defensive medicine will continue to exist. According to the 2008 Update on U.S. Tort Cost Trends from global professional services firm Tillinghast-Towers Perrin’s, the U.S. tort system cost $252 billion in 2007 or $835 per person. Implementing new quality performance standards alone, without true liability reform, will never eliminate the cost of defensive medicine.
HCMS places enormous importance on the patient-physician relationship. We believe decisions about appropriate medical care must be made by patients and their doctors. Any health care legislation should ensure that patients have a choice of their health plan and physician, and a right to privately contract with that physician. Freedom to choose your physician and health plan is a fundamental and essential ingredient to any successful health reform initiative.
We applaud the United States Congress for its effort to reform the American health insurance and health care system and stand ready to assist our Maryland delegation in its efforts to pass meaningful health system reform.
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