President Obama addresses the AMA
Health system reform was a key issue of his remarks at the AMA's Annual Meeting.
OBAMA ON HEALTH SYSTEM REFORM
During the president's speech, many times he called "right now" the "moment" for health system reform. Today's troubled economic and recessionary times, he said, made it important to take on such a large and expensive problem now. He also noted that, unlike past health reform attempts, this time major stakeholders have stepped forward with their own plans. "If we don't fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less and going broke."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON HEALTH CARE SPENDING
After discussing how information technology and preventive care would cut health spending, Obama identified what he said is the biggest challenge: "The nature of our health care delivery system itself." He said the problem is a philosophy that more-expensive care is better care. Obama, quoted, as his budget director has frequently done, the Dartmouth Atlas Project, which concluded that Medicare patients in higher-spending areas didn't necessarily get better care than those in lower-spending regions.
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON PHYSICIAN PAYMENT
To get lower costs and improved quality, Obama proposed bundling physician payments so doctors (and hospitals) are paid for how a patient is treated for an overall disease, rather than visit by visit in a fee-for-service model. He also said that there needs to be incentives for physicians to team up, and bonuses for "good health outcomes, but we're not promoting just more treatment, but better care."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
The president talked about the need to speed up getting research into the hands of doctors, noting that less than 1% of health spending goes to researching what treatments are most effective. Even when the results of this research is published in journals, he said it takes up to 17 years to be put into practice. But Obama wanted to assure doctors that he had no interest in dictating how they practiced. "It's about providing patients and doctors with the information they need to make the best medical decisions."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON A PUBLIC PLAN OPTION
He twice said if patients are happy with their doctors and their health plan, they will be able to keep them. His discussion of a public health plan option is not a "Trojan horse" for a single-payer system. "What I'm trying to do … is put affordable health care within reach for millions of Americans." He said a public plan would "inject competition into the health care market" by keeping private insurance companies "honest."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS
Upgrading from paper charts to electronic medical records was a part of the Obama-backed stimulus package, which has $19 billion in incentives for physicians who buy and use information technology. Obama noted that his desire for a technology upgrade was one of the few things he had in common with former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an indication there "shouldn't be any argument" about converting to computers.
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON THE UNINSURED
One of Obama's most passionate moments in his speech came when he moved from the economic arguments for insuring all Americans to the moral reasons for doing so. Everyone pays a "hidden tax" to take care of the uninsured, Obama said. But a more "powerful" reason, he said, as his voice grew sterner and the applause grew louder, is that "We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women and children ... We are a nation that cares for its citizens. We look out for one another."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
OBAMA ON NEEDING PHYSICIANS' HELP
It's not enough, Obama said, to simply sign a piece of legislation and call it health care reform. "I need your help, doctors," he said. "To most Americans, you are the health care system. The fact is, Americans -- and I include myself and Michelle and our kids in this -- we just do what you tell us to do." Obama said that's why he will listen to physicians and work with them to "pursue reform that works for you."
Hear audio excerpt on this topic from speech
