Let's take the time to get healthcare right

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December 23, 2009

My View

With Christmas quickly approaching, Congress continues to debate one of the most substantive and important legislative issues in recent history - how to reform health care. Without a doubt, our health care system is broken, and we must fix it. The United States spends more than 17 percent of our GDP on health care each year, more than any other industrialized nation. Yet even with this extraordinary rate of spending, more than 47 million Americans lack health insurance. We in Congress have the responsibility to produce meaningful health reform, but we must do it in the right way so as not to create another brand-new, big-government entitlement program that will cause further damage to our already crumbling fiscal situation.

In kicking off the debate at the White House health care summit in March, President Obama said that "...we need a process that is as transparent and inclusive as possible ... .Every voice has to be heard. Every idea must be considered. Every option must be on the table." I fully agree with these sentiments. Unfortunately, this pledge for openness has quickly fallen by the wayside as the Senate is being pushed up against artificial deadlines for nothing more than political purposes.

It would take Sherlock Holmes armed with the latest GPS technology and a pack of bloodhounds to find 'reform' in the latest version of the health care bill that we are supposed to be voting on in the next few days. Behind closed doors in the depths of the Capitol, the Democratic Leadership of the Senate and White House aides are currently negotiating their umpteenth "compromise" because they cannot get enough support within their own caucus to pass this legislation. And why is that? Because this $2.5 trillion bill is a disaster for the future of health care and the fiscal stability of this country.

The American people know this bill is not the reform we need, as was illustrated by the concern shown at town hall meetings and lackluster support in the polls that barely register at 40 percent in favor of Majority Leader Harry Reid's health proposal currently being debated. Just last week, the President's own actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report showing that the Reid legislation fails to meet any of the President's own benchmarks for reform: one, insure all Americans; two, allow people who like the insurance they currently have to keep it; and three, reduce health care spending and improve quality.

Specifically, CMS has found that in the first 10 years the Reid proposal would increase spending by $234 billion; leave 24 million uninsured; use cuts made to Medicare to create a new entitlement program that exacerbates, not solves, Medicare's $38 trillion insolvency; add 20 million people to the Medicaid rolls; and will cause 17 million people to lose their existing employer-sponsored insurance, even if they like it.

Furthermore, this bill is bad for New Hampshire. According to a recently released report, the Reid health legislation could increase insurance premiums in New Hampshire by as much as 93 percent for some individuals. For those that purchase their health insurance from a small business, premiums could increase as much as 25 percent. Additionally, the proposal would cut Medicare Advantage for thousands of seniors in our state and reduce their benefits. Finally, in the face of an already strapped state budget, this bill would increase the number of Medicaid beneficiaries - for which the state pays the lion's share of the cost - by 29 percent. This is not the right reform for New Hampshire.

What is the right reform? First off, any solution in Congress must be reached by Democrats and Republicans working together. We need to insure all Americans, but we need to do so with a common-sense, market-based system that encourages competition. We need to cut red tape and give employers the ability to provide cash incentives for their employees to lead healthier lives. We need to ensure that each individual has the choice of an affordable insurance plan that works best for them - not a plan mandated by a bureaucrat in Washington that they may not be able to afford.

In addition, to truly get to the heart of health reform we have to change the incentives in our current system that currently pays based on quantity, not on quality. These are the reforms that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and other experts agree will begin to reduce the growth in health care spending, but which the Reid measure fails to adequately address. These positive reforms are included in market-based, fiscally responsible solutions such as my Coverage, Prevention, Reform (CPR) proposal and the bipartisan Healthy Americans Act, which has been introduced by Senators Ron Wyden and Robert Bennett. Both of these measures provide high-quality coverage to all Americans without a government-run option or adding to the national debt. Either of these proposals would be a good place to start.

My colleagues need to do health care reform the right way and stop trying to ram through a proposal that is struggling to attract even 60 Democratic votes in the Senate. We have bipartisan common ground to start from, and there is still an opportunity to pass legislation that would garner broader support. Providing affordable, meaningful insurance to all, supporting innovation and choice, and ensuring that our children and grandchildren will be able to afford the government they inherit are principles that we should all be able to rally around.

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Sen. Judd Gregg is the senior United States Senator from New Hampshire.