| 10 Things You Should Know About Health Reform
As a Catholic provider of health services, Provena Health has long championed health reform that protects life, makes coverage affordable for the greatest possible number of people and puts the U.S. health system on a path to reducing costs while providing better and safer care. We believe the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act is a critical step toward those goals. But understanding what health reform is really all about isn't easy.
Here are 10 things you should know about health reform, as explained by Lindsey Artola, System Vice President, Advocacy and Development, and Stephanie Faraci, System Manager of Advocacy:
- 1. Passing health reform legislation is only a first step. Most of the details and implementation will be written by regulatory agencies in the coming months. The White House will work with a variety of agencies like the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services to focus on writing the specific rules and regulations for reform.
- 2. Health reform legislation will provide access to coverage for an additional 32 million people that are uninsured under the current system. Coverage will be provided by enhancing the employer-based system, expanding Medicaid, and creating new health insurance exchanges for individuals and small businesses to purchase coverage at affordable prices.
- 3. Health reform legislation will be financed through spending cuts and new taxes. 49 percent of the cost of health reform will be paid for through cuts to various health providers, and 51 percent of the cost will be paid for by new revenues such as taxes and fees.
- 4. Health reform legislation puts additional resources in primary and preventive care. Health reform creates a $12.9B public health fund which will encourage wellness, modernize the public health system and increases access to preventive services for infants, women and children.
- 5. Health reform legislation makes changes to the delivery system to emphasize quality and value. Examples of this will include paying for quality rather than volume of services and examining variations in care in different communities to help to identify the best way to make long term changes to the delivery system.
- 6. Health reform legislation addresses health care needs at all stages of life. The legislation creates an essential health benefits package that provides a broad set of services and prohibits requiring the coverage of any abortion services.
- 7. Health reform legislation will fund research into quality, safety and cost-effectiveness of health care. Health reform will establish a national quality improvement strategy, compare effectiveness of treatments, and promote best practices that will take steps to pay for quality rather than volume.
- 8. The majority of health reform provisions will be implemented in stages through 2014; it will be completely implemented by 2020. Immediate changes include creating high-risk insurance pools, allowing adult children up to the age of 26 to remain covered on parents' plans and an early retiree re-insurance program. Coverage mandates and insurance reforms will begin in 2014.
- 9. Health reform legislation will build the workforce to avoid nurse and doctor shortages. Reform will enhance education and training through new grants/loans, creating a new National Healthcare Workforce Commission and redistributing unused residency positions to train primary care physicians and general surgeons.
- 10. You can find additional resources on understanding health reform by visiting http://www.provena.org/advocacy!
From Provena Health Systems
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