Health Care Reform: Coming Soon to a Hospital Near You?
It seems that nearly every day for the past few weeks I've heard some news about President Barack Obama's plan for the future of health care in the United States. You would be hard pressed to find many people who are ecstatic about the current state of affairs, but while there is unity in our discontent, all parties remain far from agreement on a solution.
Obama’s comments in front of a panel of AMA members on are emblematic of how our new president will handle such concerns. Confident in his oratory skills (and why shouldn’t he be; if you can rally a few thousand Germans then you can do anything in front of a crowd), Obama will seek to change the minds of the medical community, insurance companies and hard line Republicans one speech at a time. However, he should be wary of being overconfident of his powers of persuasion. Even though he is taking a far different approach, we can certainly all remember how well Bill and Hillary Clinton fared in their attempts to woo people over, and ignored the tough political facts.
Insurance companies, for better or worse (I side with ‘worse’), are a part of our economic and political system. Republicans and Democrats alike have lined their coffers with money from such companies, and eliminating them from the picture will take more than a pat on the back and some kind words. There are also a number of political detractors who will have to be won over in the backrooms of Congress. Deals will certainly be cut, and Obama’s health care plan will undergo a vast transformation from its inception, through the committee process, and by the time it makes it to the Senate floor it may nearly be unrecognizable.
Regardless, the most important players (as I see it) are the doctors (and the medical community at large) and the patients. These are the people that need to be convinced that health care must be fixed. When speaking in front of the AMA panel, President Obama mentioned that the current number of malpractice lawsuits should be reduced. In my opinion, he should stray from making such statements. While I agree with him, by making such a bold declaration he is dangerously close to missing the point (malpractice lawsuits are a problem, but they’re only a symptom of a larger disease) and creating new enemies. Judging by campaign contributions over the years it's obvious that attorneys are among the most influential contributors to the Democratic Party. Alienating such important contributors will inevitably become a major problem come 2012, and like any elected official President Obama must be concerned with possible backlash resulting from policy decisions. These landmines are placed after every turn and are exactly what Obama has to avoid. The problem, obviously, is noticing these landmines before you step on them.
The White House is in for a rocky road if they remain unable to convince the medical world of the benefits a government run insurance system can bring. One way or another, we will see the federal government play a large part in the future of health care services. Whether or not the federal government is suited to such a task (and can be more efficient than the current quagmire), is another, larger question. The only question Obama should be asking right now is whether or not he can even get a bill passed.
