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AdvaMed Health Care Reform Plan Summary
AdvaMed is committed to a health care system that provides the highest quality care to every American at a price individuals and the nation can afford. AdvaMed and its member companies believe that health care reform is essential to achieve this objective.
We believe that financing the reformed system should be a shared responsibility that builds on the strength of the existing system and assures that everyone has affordable, quality insurance coverage. We believe that quality of care must always be the highest priority, and that the most effective way to control the cost of health care is to reduce the economic and human burden of disease through improved quality, health promotion and disease prevention, and development and diffusion of new and more effective technologies and treatments. We also believe that health care can be delivered with far greater efficiency than it is today.
Our reform proposal is designed to provide a broadly acceptable, nonpartisan approach to improving America’s health care system.
Under the AdvaMed plan, every American would be offered the opportunity—and given the responsibility—to purchase insurance coverage meeting minimum Federal standards, potentially including several design options. To assure that coverage is affordable, the individual’s financial responsibility for paying premiums would be capped at a reasonable percentage of income that will be lowest for low income and rise as income rises. Any differences between the cost of coverage and an individual’s obligation to pay will be made up by refundable tax credits. Medicaid will continue to be an option for low-income and disabled populations, and the disabled not eligible for Medicaid will have the opportunity to buy wrap-around Medicaid or equivalent coverage to meet their special needs.
States will be responsible for structuring the private insurance market to assure that individuals have a choice of coverage meeting national standards. The AdvaMed proposal also encourages states to establish mechanisms to assist small businesses in providing a variety of insurance options to their employees.
To improve quality and control costs, the AdvaMed plan creates a number of mechanisms to promote quality and efficiency, including supporting development of measures of quality and efficiency, public reporting of the performance of providers and health plans, financial incentives for providers and health plans to deliver quality, efficient care, with special emphasis on care for chronic diseases, and support for expansion of information technology in health care. The AdvaMed plan also establishes a $10 billion fund for health promotion and disease prevention. Finally, because medical progress—the development of new technologies, treatments, and cures—is our best hope for long-term improvement in the health and reduction in the burden of disease, the plan proposes a number of steps to encourage continued innovation in health care.
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