OAHHS Chief says change is needed
Greg Stiles, Mail Tribune
October 6, 2009
No matter what the final health-care bill Congress passes looks like, costs will go up.
The question is where those additional costs will be added to the equation, said Andy Davidson, president and chief executive officer of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
Davidson told a Chamber of Medford/Jackson County gathering at Rogue Valley Country Club on Monday that without change, the health-care system as we know it will implode. Costs will either rise directly to consumers and insurers or indirectly through taxes.
Health-care providers are dealing with growing uncompensated patient care, either losing money or passing more and more costs on to insured patients.
Oregon hospitals saw their uncompensated costs grow from $150 million in 1998 to $985 million in 2008. As care providers have attempted to keep from losing money they have demanded more from patients with insurance.
Davidson said reforms both at the state and federal level may eventually slow cost growth and make it more predictable.
The goal of 95 percent — considered universal — coverage, would be a good thing for medical providers, he said.
"The numbers of uncompensated care will drop significantly. They won't go away — 5 percent will never get coverage, illegal aliens and others and folks who just can't get into the system.
But it will have a marked improvement on physicians and hospitals."
"That's the reason the American Hospital Association cut a deal with the Senate Finance Committee and the White House," Davidson said. "Their deal is tied to the agreement to get at least 95 percent coverage levels and the deal was they were willing to take payment cuts."
Unlike the health care reform discussions during the Clinton administration, he said, business is now involved.
"The business lobby, who wouldn't really come to the table in 1993, is now not only at the table, but they are at the head of the table," Davidson said. "They've got the fork and they've got the knife, it's sharpened and they're ready to start carving. It's all focused on cost and how are you going to get the cost under control."
Citing an August CNN poll, he said 77 percent of the public is demanding change. "So long as it does not affect them — no higher taxes, we don't want the quality to go down."
If universal coverage is implemented, Davidson said, it will come with its own set of problems.
"There won't be enough physicians, clinicians and nurses, if you insure 95 percent of the people," he said.
Davidson also said some of the targets of health care reform, including some insurance companies, are already having a hard time making money and will face a monumental task if significant reform passes. Regence Blue Cross-Blue Shield, for example, is running at less than 1 percent net margin.
"It's easy to pile on the insurers, those of us who buy insurance certainly feel that way," he said. "But they're going to have to change their business model if they want to survive."
Reach Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or business@mailtribune.com.
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