Over the last month, each of us has watched the health care debate devolve from an important discussion of critical healthcare policy issues facing our nation to serious misrepresentations and political sloganeering that has trivialized and distorted the debate. These distractions are designed to undermine the great opportunity we have of addressing the many problems so many Americans face in receiving timely, high quality, affordable healthcare. As healthcare professionals we have an obligation to reaffirm the importance of meaningful policy change and call upon our elected officials to refocus their efforts toward reform. In short, we must take a stand against the status quo of our system.
As career health care professionals we cannot sit on the sidelines any longer � we must be Citizens as well as professionals. We have an obligation to help strengthen the political will of our Congressional Representatives and Senators who will be faced with challenging votes later this year. We are proposing an open letter to Congress. This letter is being circulated across a wide spectrum of healthcare professionals for consideration. We ask that you add your name as a signatory.
Please read and consider it carefully. Each of the bills currently under consideration in the House of Representatives and Senate contains provisions that will make substantial improvements over the status quo. Even if not all of us will agree with every provision in each proposal we can collectively assure members of the House and the Senate that they cannot walk away from this policy debate irrespective of the pressure. They must keep working toward reform.
It is our intent to circulate this letter for the next three weeks seeking signers. We then plan to schedule an event on Capitol Hill where we will release the letter publicly and then hand deliver copies to every member of Congress.
We want to obtain signers digitally and then network with other colleagues to seek more signatures. Once you agree to sign, you will be sent a confirmation that can be easily forwarded to your colleagues. You can agree to sign by sending an email to cgaus@HealthReformUSA.com and include your Name, Degree, Title, and Organization, City and State or you can complete the signature authorization form below. Your Degree, Title and Organizational affiliation are optional but your City and State of residence are required. Please agree to be a signer and then circulate the letter to your colleagues in your contact database. All signers will be contacted later and invited to the event on Capitol Hill tentatively planned for late September.
The letter to the Congress appears below and a PDF version of the letter with current signers also can be downloaded here.
An Open Letter To The US Congress:
Dear Member of Congress:
We represent a broad constituency of academic, clinical and health administrative professionals who have dedicated our professional lives to the people who receive care in the American healthcare system. We have taken care of patients, managed large and small healthcare organizations, taught young students medicine and public health and conducted research on the quality of healthcare and ways to improve the healthcare system for all Americans. As healthcare experts and concerned citizens, we come together in this letter to reaffirm that the current healthcare system is in crisis and is not sustainable in the future. The bills under consideration contain provisions that will seriously address problems in healthcare and must be reconciled. We reaffirm the importance of meaningful policy change in this legislative session and call upon you to act.
The lack of insurance for 46 million citizens and the rising costs of care for everyone must be addressed. We believe there are a minimum of policy changes that must be included in any Health Reform legislation and urge you to adopt the following provisions:
• Provide coverage to 35-40 million additional US citizens
• Increase competition in the private insurance market and eliminate discrimination based on pre-existing conditions in the purchase of health insurance
• Cover essential preventive care and improve access to primary care
• Ensure affordability of health insurance for low- and moderate-income families through sufficient subsidies of families and small businesses.
• Slow the rise in costs of healthcare and health insurance premiums for everyone
• Adopt a shared responsibility for achieving savings and financing the added coverage through contributions from employers, insurance companies, hospitals, doctors, drug companies and patients
• Support and disseminate the results of Comparative Effectiveness research to help practitioners and patients chose the best healthcare
• Expand the Federal, State and private sector commitment to improving the quality of healthcare for all citizens
While this list may not meet all of the policy changes that any one of us supports, it does offer a core set of provisions that each of us can support.
We are extremely concerned that a small but vocal minority of people in the current debate have misstated and distorted numerous facts in an effort to scare our citizens. This is unconscionable and you must not be distracted from the critical task at hand.
For the record, here are facts that you must consider as you move forward. The current bills
• Do not allow government to ration healthcare. To the contrary, they promote the use of Comparative Effectiveness Research to give doctors and patients more information about the latest research so that patients can get the best care available. How can anyone be opposed to giving physicians the best information available to treat patients?
• Will not promote or allow euthanasia. To the contrary, they only allow senior citizens to have an optional consultation with a physician about what end of life procedures they want or do not want.
• Will not allow government to deny benefits to Down-Syndrome children or any other disabled person. By expanding Medicaid the proposals will provide coverage for many disabled persons not now eligible for insurance.
• Will not break the budget. The President and Congress have vowed to make it budget neutral.
• May slow the rate of increase in some provider payments but will not diminish benefits or access to physicians. Providers will receive additional payments from the newly insured persons that will offset proposed savings to help finance coverage.
• Will not take away existing health insurance coverage. The bills will give anyone without insurance the option to purchase health insurance regardless of their health status and economic ability.
• Will not cover illegal aliens. The legislation being considered does not cover or include immigrants not lawfully present in the US.
In summary, we strongly believe that the legislation being considered by the five Committees of Congress significantly improves upon the status quo of our healthcare system. Congress has a moral and ethical obligation to conclude their deliberations this fall and send to the President a Health reform bill that will be signed. We often hear that America has the best healthcare system in the world. While that is debatable, we do know that no other nation spends the amount of money for healthcare and has such poor outcomes as we do. This is simply unsustainable. It is time to improve healthcare for all our citizens.
Respectfully,
THE UNDERSIGNED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
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