July 9th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Announcements, Health Policy, Humor
9 Comments »
To join the event live, please contact john.briley@getbetterhealth.com Seating is limited…
Congressman Paul Ryan
Media Personality Rea Blakey
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 9, 2009 |
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Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First
Elected Officials Join America’s Top Medical Bloggers to Discuss the Real,
Clinical Impact of Health Care Reform
WHAT: As the health care debate heats up on the Hill, join Representative Paul Ryan as he sits down with top medical bloggers from across the country to discuss health care reform and its impact on practicing clinicians. This keynote discussion will be followed by two panels of physician and nurse bloggers who will highlight the importance of putting patients first. Topics covered will include key barriers to health care quality, affordability, and access as well as the potential pitfalls of a new public plan and ways to fix the current system without investing billions in a new one.
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Friday, July 17, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. |
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The National Press Club, Broadcast Operations Center 4th Floor, 529 14th St. NW, Washington, DC |
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| WHO: |
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Keynote: Representative Paul Ryan, (R-WI), House Budget Committee Ranking MemberModerator: Rea Blakey, Emmy award-winning health reporter and news anchor, previously with ABC, CNN, and now with Discovery Health
Host: Val Jones, M.D., CEO and Founder of Better Health
Policy Expert: Robert Goldberg, Ph.D., co-founder and vice president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI)
Primary Care Panelists:
Kevin Pho, M.D., Internist and author of KevinMD
Rob Lamberts, M.D., Med/Peds specialist and author of Musings of a Distractible Mind
Alan Dappen, M.D., Family Physician and Better Health contributor
Valerie Tinley, N.P., Nurse Practitioner and Better Health contributor
Specialty Care Panelists:
Kim McAllister, R.N., Emergency Medicine nurse and author of Emergiblog
Westby Fisher, M.D., Cardiac Electrophysiologist and author of Dr.Wes
Rich Fogoros, M.D., Cardiologist and author of CovertRationingBlog
And Fixing American Healthcare
Jim Herndon, M.D., past president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and Better Health contributor |
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For more information on Better Health, visit http://www.getbetterhealth.com.
February 17th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Health Policy
2 Comments »
Republicans do not support Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill, nor are they too keen on the democratic approach to healthcare reform. Congressman Paul Ryan outlined an alternative approach to healthcare reform at the recent Medicare Policy Summit conference. His key points:
1. All Americans should have access to the same health benefits that federal employees have. They receive a medical savings account, with subsidies offered when they are sick, according to their need. Full support is available for low-income beneficiaries, while partial support is offered to high income beneficiaries. Ryan argues that targeting Medicare according to need will keep the program solvent (rather than offering full coverage to the very wealthy, etc.)
2. Tax credits should provide the basis for healthcare coverage so that individuals are not dependent on their employers for health insurance. Individuals would purchase their own health insurance either via their employer or on an open market that would promote competition between the plans to drive prices down. Individuals would be able to keep the remainder of their tax credit if they select a health plan that costs less than their yearly credit.
3. Americans will be allowed to purchase health insurance across state lines, allowing them further coverage options and increasing competition among the plans to decrease costs.
4. Small businesses may join a national group (Associations Health Plans) to pool risks and drive down the cost of providing health insurance to their employees.
5. States would create “high risk pools” for people with pre-existing conditions who could not afford insurance premiums. Federal funding would help to offset the cost of insuring these individuals.
Ryan explained that the Ways and Means Committee that oversees Medicare is basically “a bunch of politicians sitting in a room playing Caesar – giving either a thumb’s up or thumb’s down to healthcare reform and finance issues.” He warns that they will be doing a lot more of that if America continues on its current course of “more regulation, with the federal government dictating the practice of medicine, and rationing our healthcare.”
Ryan’s predictions are grim:
1. Within 2 years 17% of our economy will move from the private sector column to the public sector column.
2. Pete Stark will lead the charge for an Institute of Comparative Effectiveness to direct care choices in medicine. Physicians will have fewer treatment options to offer their patients.
3. Small health plans will go out of business, leaving only a few large plans, with decreased competition and fewer choices for consumers.
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For more information about Ryan’s views, please check out The Roadmap For America’s Future.
