Government administered pricing at the Medicare level for all purchasers of health care services – as suggested in a recent opinion piece that appeared in the Washington Post titled, “There’s a genuine solution to our health-care problem” – would disrupt the fragile financing system that ensures the provision of access to essential services for all Americans, and would prevent private-sector innovation that supports medical research, education and the creation of medical miracles.  It would also threaten access to basic care for those in vulnerable communities.

 

For Medicare, hospitals received payment of only 87 cents for every dollar spent caring for Medicare patients in 2016.  Despite this, hospitals have kept growth of prices for insurers under 2% for each of the last four years. This is despite rising input costs, such as prescription drugs. For instance, hospital spending per admission on prescription drugs rose 38.7% from 2013 to 2105.

 

There is a better solution.  Over the years, hospitals and health systems have strongly supported health coverage for all. Strengthening health care exchanges providing subsidized coverage for the uninsured, combined with expansion of the Medicaid program, remains the best way of extending coverage to more people.   

 

Finally, rapid changes in the health care field require hospitals and health systems to join together with physicians, and other partners to explore new ways to enhance quality, reduce costs, and provide more convenient access to care to meet patients’ needs.

 

Related News Articles

Headline
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Sept. 18 released a final rule on policy and technical changes to Medicare Advantage, the Medicare…
Headline
The AHA submitted a statement Sept. 17 for a House Ways and Means Committee markup session on a series of health care and other bills. Specifically, the AHA…
Headline
Corey Feist, CEO and co-founder of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, and Tiffany Lyttle, R.N., director of cultural integration at Centra Health, discuss…
Headline
The AHA Sept. 15 expressed support for the Ensuring Access to Essential Providers Act, legislation that would require Medicare Advantage plans to cover…
Headline
The AHA Sept. 15 urged Aetna to rescind its recently announced “level of severity inpatient payment” policy, saying that it “could erode the transparency…
Headline
A Gallup report published Sept. 9 found that nearly 48 million Americans currently have or are being treated for depression. The total, which equals 18.3% of…