President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney explained their healthcare platforms and criticized one another's perspectives in statements published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
President Obama
In his statement, President Obama said his administration is encouraged by substantial progression in new care delivery models. "Across the country, provider groups are working with us to form accountable care organizations, and more and more hospitals are moving toward bundled payments," he wrote.
If elected for a second term, President Obama said he will work to implement the remaining provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and fix a "flawed payment formula that threatens physicians' reimbursement, rather than the temporary measures Congress continues to send to [his] desk," referencing the sustainable growth rate. He also wants to see medical malpractice reform to "prevent needless lawsuits without placing arbitrary caps that do nothing to lower the cost of care."
President Obama said Mr. Romney has a "radically different vision" for healthcare, as he would repeal the PPACA immediately, and suggested his contender is hiding from his past as the architect of Massachusetts' healthcare reform in 2006. The president ended his statement by saying the country cannot afford to refight old political battles and return to the way things were, and the country will be better off if it does what is hard, necessary and right.
Mr. Romney
President Obama's "2,700-page federal takeover" did little to solve healthcare's problems, according to Mr. Romney. He said President Obama commonly touts the bill's provisions as helpful, such as people staying on their parents' health insurance until they're 26, when such options would exist regardless of the law as markets respond to consumer demand. Mr. Romney vows to repeal the PPACA and replace it with "commonsense, patient-centered reforms suited to the challenges we face."
Mr. Romney describes an ideal healthcare system in which costs are controlled through incentives to providers, payors and patients. Payors will have to compete for business, and competition between providers — rather than legislation — is what will drive higher quality and lower costs.
Mr. Romney also said physicians should spend more time with patients and less time with paperwork or practicing defensive medicine. He emphasizes the need for healthcare innovation, such as new cures that reach the market faster, as well as medical malpractice reform and a regulatory framework to support interoperable health information technology.
And of course there is Medicare, which has become the centerpiece of Mr. Romney's healthcare platform. He vows to make no changes to the program that will affect current enrollees or enrollees within the next 10 years but will then transition the system to one in which beneficiaries can choose among Medicare-approved, guaranteed-coverage plans. One of the choices will be today's traditional fee-for-service option, according to Mr. Romney's statement.
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President Obama
In his statement, President Obama said his administration is encouraged by substantial progression in new care delivery models. "Across the country, provider groups are working with us to form accountable care organizations, and more and more hospitals are moving toward bundled payments," he wrote.
If elected for a second term, President Obama said he will work to implement the remaining provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and fix a "flawed payment formula that threatens physicians' reimbursement, rather than the temporary measures Congress continues to send to [his] desk," referencing the sustainable growth rate. He also wants to see medical malpractice reform to "prevent needless lawsuits without placing arbitrary caps that do nothing to lower the cost of care."
President Obama said Mr. Romney has a "radically different vision" for healthcare, as he would repeal the PPACA immediately, and suggested his contender is hiding from his past as the architect of Massachusetts' healthcare reform in 2006. The president ended his statement by saying the country cannot afford to refight old political battles and return to the way things were, and the country will be better off if it does what is hard, necessary and right.
Mr. Romney
President Obama's "2,700-page federal takeover" did little to solve healthcare's problems, according to Mr. Romney. He said President Obama commonly touts the bill's provisions as helpful, such as people staying on their parents' health insurance until they're 26, when such options would exist regardless of the law as markets respond to consumer demand. Mr. Romney vows to repeal the PPACA and replace it with "commonsense, patient-centered reforms suited to the challenges we face."
Mr. Romney describes an ideal healthcare system in which costs are controlled through incentives to providers, payors and patients. Payors will have to compete for business, and competition between providers — rather than legislation — is what will drive higher quality and lower costs.
Mr. Romney also said physicians should spend more time with patients and less time with paperwork or practicing defensive medicine. He emphasizes the need for healthcare innovation, such as new cures that reach the market faster, as well as medical malpractice reform and a regulatory framework to support interoperable health information technology.
And of course there is Medicare, which has become the centerpiece of Mr. Romney's healthcare platform. He vows to make no changes to the program that will affect current enrollees or enrollees within the next 10 years but will then transition the system to one in which beneficiaries can choose among Medicare-approved, guaranteed-coverage plans. One of the choices will be today's traditional fee-for-service option, according to Mr. Romney's statement.
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