After the Democrats forced through ObamaCare, the Mayo Clinic, naturally, tried to put the best face on it with "A Perspective on Current Health Reform Issues from Mayo Clinic," presented below. Note however, that the criticisms are still present, called "areas of concern."
"With the President’s signature this week on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Mayo Clinic is committed to assist in anyway we can with the effective implementation of the new law as well as the development of future patient-centered health care reform efforts.
"Even though Mayo Clinic did not take a position of support or opposition to the final legislation, we continue to articulate our areas of agreement and areas of concern. We believe the pay-for-value provisions are a good start but...
Not comprehensive or aggressive enough to have an immediate impact on lowering the cost and improving the quality of health care. We are also concerned about the continued approach of funding reform through the use of across-the-board payment cuts.
(Mayo Clinic on ObamaCare)
Nevertheless, we believe that the new health reform law contains provisions which are aligned with our principles for reform and will begin to move us toward a system that provides all Americans with quality care at affordable costs. Some of these provisions include:
* Provisions to pay more for value – better health care outcomes at lower cost,
* Insurance reforms, including elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions,
* An insurance exchange, rather than an expansion of Medicare or a government-run public option,
* Subsidies for people with financial need to purchase health insurance,
* An independent payment advisory board, and
* Pilot projects on accountable care organizations, medical homes and bundled payments.
Mayo Clinic believes that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an important initial step toward ensuring quality, affordable health care for all Americans, and that much more needs to be done in the form of future legislative action.
Not comprehensive or aggressive enough to have an immediate impact on lowering the cost and improving the quality of health care. We are also concerned about the continued approach of funding reform through the use of across-the-board payment cuts.
(Mayo Clinic on ObamaCare)
Lawmakers must aggressively move Medicare toward a system that pays for value rather than continuing to institute across the board reductions in reimbursements to doctors and hospitals. As the first baby boomers qualify for Medicare next year, this huge influx of beneficiaries will put even greater strain on Medicare’s already precarious financial position. Congress also needs to find a permanent fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician payment system to prevent sudden limitation on access to care for Medicare patients. We must ensure that health care in the United States is patient-centered, coordinated, accessible, affordable, and provides steadily improving value, whether that care is provided under Medicare or any other insurance program.
