President Obama Talks Health Care and Health Insurance Reform at the American Medical Association

President Obama Talks Health Care and Health Insurance Reform at the American Medical Association in Politics and Legislation

This morning in Chicago, President Obama spoke at the American Medical Association 158th Annual Meeting about, guess what, health care and health insurance reform.

The president covered a lot of ground in his nearly hour-long speech, touching on his main views on reform but tying each provision in with doctor interaction.

Here were some of the most notable parts of his speech:

• Cut Medicare Advantage payments. This has been a sticking point for the health insurance industry when it comes to reform. President Obama wants a more competitive market when it comes to Medicare Advantage and sees $177 billion in savings over 10 years if Advantage plans get paid similarly to traditional Medicare coverage.


• Medical malpractice. Traditionally speaking, one of the biggest no-no’s for Democrats when it comes to health reform has been medical malpractice reform. It’s been a battle between doctors who believe they are vulnerable to unfair lawsuits and politicians who believe consumers are vulnerable to poor doctors. President Obama is playing both sides of the fence in a sense,  saying he’s against caps on malpractice awards, he’s very much for reducing the lawsuits.
  
  But medical malpractice is a double-edged sword. Because doctors can be sued if they don’t act, many do what’s known as “defensive medicine, ” or ordering up lots of costly health care treatments even if they aren’t necessary. So while defensive medicine helps protect doctors from lawsuits, it drives up overall health care costs.


• A public health insurance plan. Doctors are worried a public plan would only provide Medicare-like payments to health providers, but President Obama argued that a public plan would cut costs in the long run and without it, growing health care costs would hurt doctor payments anyway.

Another key part of this speech was, well, that he addressed the AMA at all. The president was clear that he wanted to keep all parties, doctor associations included, in the conversation and debate over reform.

And most reports after the speech ended said the president was fairly well received by the doctor’s group. How all this openness helps Obama and other health reformers on Capitol Hill still remains a big unanswered question.

To read more and view the speech, check out this article in The New York Times.

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