Area group discusses health care reform with Congressman

Local health care providers were among a group joining Rep. Bill Foster Wednesday to discuss potential changes to add to the health care reform debate in Congress.

Executives from Delnor Hospital and the Provena system joined the roundtable, along with medical directors, small business owners and area medical patients.

If there was one thing everyone in the room agreed upon it was that the current health care system is not viable. Medical providers said they have their own dilemmas in providing care at reasonable prices while guarding against lawsuits, sorting through red tape from insurance companies and surviving reimbursement delays from the government.

The conversation centered around problems Foster said are still being debated in Washington. Themes involved determining the fair cost of medical care. For instance, is it preferable to charge a flat fee per case, or charge by individual procedures? Patients in the room said they'd love to know the cost of a test or procedure upfront before making treatment decisions. But doctors said that's nearly impossible to do because every patient responds to treatment differently.

Most people also said it is critical to form a plan that allowing everyone to have insurance coverage no matter how healthy or sick they are.

Patient accountability was also discussed. For example, should patients who live healthy lives pay less for medical care and insurance than people who choose unhealthy habits such as smoking? Since healthy people are generally less of a cost burden on the health care system, does it make sense to offer incentives for people to live a healthier lifestyle?

Hospital officials said much money could be saved by eliminating certain treatments for the gravely ill who have virtually no chance of recovery. Doctors added that they could see some benefit in moving toward a system - with some built-in exceptions - of being freed from liability after a standardized process of care is administered.

While Foster will bring the group's ideas to Washington, one major topic not discussed was how to pay for health care reform.

"The cost is not from whether or not we have a public option, but whether or not we have a mandate that everyone has a basic level of insurance," Foster said. "We have to have a very serious discussion about the basic level of insurance everyone should have. It's not going to be a private bed in the Mayo Clinic. It's going to be a basic level."

Foster would not say whether he's in favor of taxing existing employee health care benefits to pay for reform, but said it is a consideration.