President Pushes for Health Care Reform During Prime Time News Conference

During a July 22 prime time news conference, President Obama said that Americans can no longer wait for health care reform, a position with which the AAFP emphatically agrees.

Health care reform "is not just about the 47 million Americans who don't have any health insurance at all," said Obama. "Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick or lose their job or change their job. It's about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive. And it's about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid."

In an acknowledgement of primary care, Obama identified care-coordination as an important component of health care reform, saying, "We've got to have the medical system work in teams so people don't go through five different tests."

If physicians and hospitals fail to coordinate patient care, subspecialists treating a particular condition could end up ordering the same tests for a patient without realizing the test already has been conducted, resulting in wasteful spending, said Obama.

"You may not see (the cost) because if you have health insurance right now, it's just being sent to the insurance company," said Obama. "But that's raising your premiums, it's raising everybody's premiums, and that money, one way or another, is coming out of your pocket."

The health care reform bills now under consideration by the House and Senate would lower costs and promote choice, while providing coverage "every American can count on," Obama said. Health care reform, he added, needs to change the way health care is delivered so physicians are paid for the quality of care, not the quantity of care.

Obama also endorsed the use of comparative effectiveness research, saying, "If doctors and patients have the best information about what works and what doesn't, then they're going to want to pay for what works."

The current health care system, Obama said, "doesn't incentivize that." He also said patients, physicians and hospitals need to be more "discriminating consumers."

In a statement responding to Obama's comments, AAFP President Ted Epperly, M.D., of Boise, Idaho, said the AAFP agrees that the American people cannot wait for health care system reform.

"Family physicians see first hand the fallout from our broken system as more patients are priced out of health care coverage or lose health insurance and forgo needed health care services," he said. "Americans need a health care system that will allow them to keep their current plans if they wish without fear of losing coverage when they become sick or if they change jobs. They need and deserve a system that offers affordable coverage and that is available regardless of pre-existing conditions."

Epperly also called for health care reform that "fosters the doctor-patient relationship and ensures the preventive care that saves lives and money."

"Americans want a system in which patients can work with their personal primary care physician who coordinates their care among a team of professionals, especially when they have chronic conditions," he said.