The Health Policy Consensus Group is an affiliation of health policy analysts, mostly located at think tanks around the country, who believe market-based reforms can produce broader coverage and higher value care while preserving the best features of American medicine.
Today, the group — of which I am a member — released a Statement on Health Reform, with twenty-two signatories, that raises serious concerns about the overall direction of reform effort taking shape in Congress. Here’s the key passage:
We are gravely concerned that several of the proposals offered by the President and the Congressional leadership would make matters worse, not better. These flawed prescriptions for radical change should not be accepted as part of any serious and sustainable health reform proposal:
- A new government health insurance plan
- An employer “play-or-pay” mandate
- A uniform, government-defined package of benefits
- A mandate that individuals must purchase insurance
- A National Health Insurance Exchange extending federal regulatory powers over private insurance
- Federal interference in the practice of medicine through a federal health board, comparative effectiveness review, and other government intrusions into medical decision-making
The full statement is available here in PDF format.