Health group advocates market-based solutions

Supporters say Health Care America's objectives match those of many physicians.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. May 1, 2006.

Washington -- A new advocacy organization has formed in Washington to counter what its founders perceive as too much government and trial lawyer influence on the U.S. health care system.

Health Care America, which bills itself as nonpartisan, will champion private-sector-based solutions to the problems of high health care costs and the uninsured, said Executive Director Sarah Berk, a former congressional staffer who most recently served as a lobbyist for the American Hospital Assn. Although the group has not yet nailed down the specific issues on which it will work, it will focus on increasing patient access, autonomy and choice through market-based competition rather than government control, she said.

The Medicare prescription drug benefit is one example given by the group of a policy change that relies on private-sector competition to lower prices and provide more choice for health care consumers. Health Care America also will push for medical liability reforms that preserve patient access to care.

The nonprofit organization is receiving financial backing from health care professionals, hospitals, drug companies, pharmaceutical benefit managers and others, though Berk declined to identify which ones. The American Medical Association is not currently part of the new effort.

Several people involved with the new group said it could best be described as a counterweight to the more liberal-leaning consumer group Families USA.

Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack said that he was "amused and flattered" by the comparison. He added that the main contrast so far between the two groups centers on their funding sources. Families USA receives donations from national foundations and accepts no money from health care industry groups.