Johns Hopkins Medicine FOLDS to the Obamanator

[Warph]

John Hopkins Medicine supports health care reform
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bal-healthletter0317b,0,6979444.story

We are hitting two important milestones this month: the one-year anniversary of the official introduction of the House of Representatives health care bill and the awaited passage of comprehensive health care reform legislation.

Now, as this exhaustive debate reaches its conclusion, we look back a year, and back 120 years to our founding principles. And hence, we at Johns Hopkins Medicine believe we're affirming a core belief in supporting passage of HR 3590, the Senate's health care reform bill, as well as accompanying legislation that is expected to take the form of a reconciliation bill.

We at Johns Hopkins have worked long and hard to advocate in the legislative arena, meeting with dozens of senior legislative and executive branch officials. But the fact is, we have not prevailed on securing some of our priorities. We sought to safeguard disproportionate share payments until we could be assured that the coverage expansions would insure the vast majority of the people we serve. We did not want the legislation to include an independent payment advisory board because of the potential unintended consequences for hospitals and our patients. We wanted the reform legislation to increase Medicare-funded graduate medical education slots. We also shared our views extensively on the subjects of geographic variation, value indexing, and readmissions. We also remain concerned about the rapid expansion of Medicaid, which could severely strain parts of our current health system.

However, we applaud the Senate bill's designation of the Healthcare Innovation Zone pilot, which can integrate healthcare providers, align their incentives, and help reduce health care costs for a geographically defined population of patients. The formation of the Center for Innovation within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can help providers in designing programs that coordinate care and move us away from the current fee-for-service reimbursement model focused on rewarding volume.

Now time is up. We know that if the Senate version fails to pass in the House of Representatives, our concerns become irrelevant and the central issue of the uninsured will remain unaddressed. It may then be a very long time before our leaders in Washington are willing once again to take up the challenges facing our health care system.

We believe that a vote for passage will finally bring us closer to the reality of expanding coverage to 30 million people Americans presently without insurance. We are at a point at which the inequities and injustices of a system that leaves tens of millions of Americans without health insurance are no longer acceptable. These types of inequities that led to the founding of Johns Hopkins Hospital, and our decision today mirrors the mission bequeathed to us more than a century ago.

Dr. Edward Miller, Baltimore

The writer is CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.



Obama has made claims many times that, "my proposal would bring down the cost of healthcare for millions—families, businesses and the federal government."  He said it is "fully paid for" and "brings down our deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next two decades."  All total BS!  Never before has a vast new entitlement been sold on the basis of fiscal responsibility, and one reason ObamaCare is so unpopular is that Americans understand the contradiction between untold new government subsidies and claims of spending restraint. They know a Big Con when they hear one.

You know, any bill that counts 10 years of taxes but only six years of spending as a way to bring down the deficit is dishonest. Hopefully enough congressional Democrats will vote against this and start the process over again, in a more fiscally responsible way. As Congressman Paul Ryan said to the president the first of this month, "We are all representatives of the American people. We all do town hall meetings. We all talk to our constituents. And I've got to tell you, the American people are engaged. And if you think they want a government takeover of healthcare, I would respectfully submit you're not listening to them."

Obamanator and Congress are NOT listening to the people!  It's clear that voters are way out ahead of the politicians when it comes to fiscal policy.... Warph