Editorial series: Rehabilitating Healthcare

April 1, 2010

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

You can't have it both ways

In the days since President Obama signed a comprehensive healthcare reform bill into law, it has become de rigueur among GOP candidates for California's higher offices to call for its repeal. More to the point, they've called on Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown -- a Democratic candidate for governor -- to join 14 other states' attorneys general in suing to block the law. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman even told a crowd of supporters Tuesday night that she would force the attorney general to file suit, though she admitted later that the governor has no authority to do so.

7:06 PM PDT, March 25, 2010

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Some poor posturing

The healthcare reform debate over the last year has been more about politics than policy, so it's not surprising that Republicans used the latest round -- the Senate vote on a proposed reconciliation bill -- to tee up talking points instead of trying to improve the newly enacted reforms. Nevertheless, the episode was disappointing in its cynicism. Given an opportunity to shore up weaknesses in the new law, Republicans sought to render it unworkable or force Democrats to cast votes that could be caricatured on the campaign trail.

4:11 PM PDT, March 24, 2010

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Let go of the status quo

The attorneys general of Florida and 12 other states sued to block the new federal healthcare reform law Tuesday morning almost before the ink was dry on President Obama's signature. Later in the day, Virginia's attorney general filed a second lawsuit, also challenging the constitutionality of the new law. Echoing an argument often cited by opponents of comprehensive reform, both complaints contend that Congress overstepped its authority by requiring Americans to carry health insurance. We urge the courts to reject the states' claims without delay.

8:32 PM PDT, March 21, 2010

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

A historic first step

The House vote Sunday to send a comprehensive healthcare reform bill to President Obama's desk put the United States on a path toward universal health insurance, a goal that had eluded reformers since then-presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt called for all workers to have coverage in 1912. It may prove to be the signal accomplishment of Obama's administration, even though the controversy surrounding it threatens to end his party's majority in Congress. Rarely has such a good thing for Americans been perceived by so many as a threat to their livelihood and liberty.

4:50 PM PDT, March 19, 2010

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Laying the foundation

The campaign for comprehensive healthcare reform reaches its make-or-break point Sunday, when the House could vote to send the Senate's proposal to the president's desk -- or to kill it. Although the vote will be shrouded in a procedural controversy, the bottom line is clear. We urge representatives to approve both the Senate-passed legislation and the reconciliation bill that would improve it. The measures won't solve all the problems in the healthcare system, but they would make significant progress toward that goal.

September 10, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Dollars and sense

President Obama took care of the easy tasks Wednesday in his much-anticipated speech to Congress on healthcare reform. He laid out the main provisions he's looking for in a comprehensive bill, and provided a clear and powerful rationale for fundamental change. But the steps he endorsed -- including new regulations on insurers and help for the uninsured to obtain coverage -- already have broad support from industry lobbyists and lawmakers. The hard part, in terms of both policy and politics, is finding a way to pay for the expansion in coverage. And on that most contentious issue, unfortunately, Obama argued that Congress could cover most of the cost by attacking waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid -- a pain-free path that's as unrealistic as it is alluring.

July 20, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

The reality of rationing

Opponents of the main Democratic proposals for healthcare reform warn that consumers would be stopped from getting the care they need when they need it. President Obama's plan is "rationing," one political strategist blogged. It's an unrealistic criticism, yet policymakers shouldn't sugarcoat reality: Rationing is part of the healthcare system today, as it will be under any overhaul fashioned by Washington. That's no argument for sticking with the current approach, however. Without significant improvements in the way healthcare is delivered and paid for, the escalating costs will cut off more people from the care they need.

Spread the pain of paying for healthcare reform

July 16, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Spread the pain of paying for healthcare reform

Lawmakers have pushed their efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system into a higher gear, with a Senate panel approving one Democratic proposal and a House committee starting to debate another. The 1,018-page House bill (HR 3200), which the Democratic chairmen of three committees introduced Tuesday, is a decidedly mixed bag, reflecting the difficulty of making large-scale repairs while preserving the healthcare options people have today. The measure would make some important changes in the way healthcare is delivered and financed, yet it falls short of some goals and overshoots others.

July 13, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Improve care, lower costs

Americans like to complain about the healthcare system, but they're unnerved by many of the proposals for improving it. More than 90% of those surveyed last fall by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions said that healthcare costs are a threat to their personal financial security, and 80% gave the system a mediocre grade or worse. Yet less than half favored measures to promote electronic medical records, the use of scientifically proven treatments or more monitoring of the safety and effectiveness of drugs. Evidently, we'd rather live with the shortcomings we know about than risk more severe ones.

Covering the uninsured: A cost that pays

July 6, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Covering the uninsured: A cost that pays

Access to affordable healthcare in the United States is an entitlement, a perquisite or a fantasy, depending on a seemingly arbitrary matrix of factors. Government insurance programs are available for the elderly, the permanently disabled, people with failing kidneys, the impoverished and children from low-income families. But how poor one has to be to qualify varies from state to state and from year to year. Employees at most large companies and many small ones can take advantage of group insurance plans negotiated by their employers. But millions of people who work in low-paying service, retail or contracting jobs have to seek individual insurance policies, which may be unaffordable or unavailable because of their medical histories. Others obtain insurance with deductibles so high or coverage limits so low that one bad accident or illness could bankrupt them.

June 29, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Focus on results, not treatments

Alarmed by increases in healthcare costs, policymakers and insurers have adopted a series of reforms over the years -- such as price controls and HMOs -- whose savings proved to be temporary at best. With that history in mind, some experts say that the only sure way to control the growth in healthcare spending is for the government to cap it, a cure that would be worse than the disease. There may be no quick fix, but there certainly are ways to deliver and pay for healthcare that can give consumers more value for their money. If we undertake them now, the eventual result will be a higher-quality system that's more sustainable and affordable.

June 22, 2009

REHABILITATING HEALTHCARE

Diagnosing the problem

Legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system hasn't emerged from congressional committees, yet it has gained enough momentum for the demonization of the reform effort to start in earnest. For example, Republican strategist Karl Rove called it "President Barack Obama's government-run monstrosity" in an Op-Ed article Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. Other Republicans, hewing to the rhetorical line drawn by consultant Frank Luntz, warn of a trillion-dollar "government takeover" of the healthcare system a la General Motors or American International Group.

March 27, 2009

Editorial

Help for healthcare reform

The prospects for reforming the U.S. healthcare system brightened this week when the country's top insurers made a significant concession to consumer advocates: They offered to stop basing premiums on a policyholder's medical history. Although the concession came with strings attached, it removes one of the hurdles facing lawmakers as they struggle to overhaul the system.