Tuesday marks the next big milestone in the Great 2009 Health Care Debate. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on its $829 billion health care bill. The Texas Medical Association (TMA) is urging Sen. John Cornyn to continue the fight to "fix what's wrong and keep what's good" in the country's health care system.

"Senate Cornyn has been a stalwart for patients and physicians on the Finance Committee," said TMA president, William H. Fleming. "We have noticed, and appreciate, his work on liability reform, Medicare payments to physicians, and the independent Medicare commission. We urge the senator to continue to push for bipartisan solutions to these terribly complex problems."

Texas physicians are urging Senator Cornyn to push the Finance Committee to:

- Help patients better understand, buy, and use their health insurance policies;
- Fix Medicare so future generations of the elderly and persons with disability can obtain quality health care; and
- Adequately fund Medicaid at the state level so Texas' Medicaid patients have a doctor in charge of their care.

How the Senate Finance Committee proposal is lacking real insurance company reform

The current Senate Finance Committee bill contains some real reforms to stop some of the worst health insurance company abuses. It would prohibit insurer rescission of health insurance coverage and preexisting condition policy exclusions. Please keep these protections in the bill. They help ensure that consumers who buy health insurance coverage keep that coverage when they need it most.

"But they don't go far enough," Dr. Fleming said. "On behalf of my patients, I urge Senator Cornyn and the Finance Committee to:

- Require insurers to provide consumers with uniform, meaningful and easy-to-understand information about their products;
- Require a "health insurance product label" (just like nutrition labels that now appear on food products) that would allow employers and patients to easily compare health plan costs and benefits; and
- Require insurance companies to report their medical loss ratios in a meaningful way."

How the Senate Finance Committee proposal fails senior citizens

The Finance Committee proposal would replace the 21.5-percent payment cut to physician payment set to take effect on Jan. 1 with a 0.5 percent increase. However, in 2011, the flawed formula used to pay physicians would force an estimated 25-percent across-the-board cut in Medicare payments for all physician services.

"Cuts of this magnitude simply cannot be tolerated - It would force doctors out of the Medicare program once and for all," said Dr. Fleming. Nearly 90 percent of the people over age 50 surveyed in a recent public opinion poll said it is important for doctors to be reimbursed adequately so they can continue to accept patients on Medicare. Dr. Fleming added, "We are deeply concerned that huge cuts could destabilize the entire program, threatening health care for millions of seniors and Texans with disabilities".

How Senate Finance Committee bill makes false promise to the uninsured in Texas

Texas is the uninsured capital of the United States, and any health system reform must start with concrete action to fix this dire situation. The Texas Medicaid system is already strained beyond its limits. The latest TMA data shows that only 42 percent of Texas physicians are taking new Medicaid patients, primarily due to abysmal payment rates and overwhelming paperwork. Nearly 750,000 Texas children are eligible for but not enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

"Congress simply can't expand Medicaid without sending substantial new federal dollars to Texas to improve our Medicaid program and its payment rates," said Dr. Fleming. "Texas physicians have had too much experience with our problem-plagued Medicaid system to know that coverage does not equate to access. Congress must take even bigger steps to ensure Texas patients have real access to their doctor, local hospitals, and other health care providers."

TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing nearly 44,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA's key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.

Source
Texas Medical Association