Healthcare

Keeping patients healthy and keeping doctors in Illinois

First, with regards to Medicaid, due to the imminent passing of the new Federal Health Care bill, Illinois should expect Medicaid enrollments to grow by at least 50% as the threshold of income level for Medicaid recipients rises significantly.  And because Medicaid frequently underpays physicians, many doctors do not take Medicaid patients, and, those that do take Medicaid patients may end up passing the loss in payments on to the rest of their patients.

Since Illinois pays about 43% of Medicaid costs and accounts for 30% of the state budget, we must find a way to increase access for Medicaid recipients.  We must also significantly raise the number of doctors willing to take Medicaid patients.  Last, the lack of preventative care in Medicaid increases the number and frequency of potential costly ER visits and treatments that might be avoided.

In order to incent doctors, patients, MCOs and others to look at a managed care option, Illinois could adopt Health Savings Accounts for Medicaid based on the private industry HSA model.  In addition, we can reduce costly ER visits by implementing a mandatory managed care system with strong life-saving preventative and disease management programs.  Also, the blind, elderly and disabled would be better served in community care (home).  This constant care, while the most expensive, can be made more efficient and effective by community care.  We can further improve efficient managed care by tying care provider payments to current performance and long term results.  In line with private providers, managed care can reduce pharmacological costs by following preferred drug lists (generic preferred).

Next, we must be empowered to be more involved in our healthcare decisions.  In order to bring the decision-making process closer to the patients, we must limit government involvement and create more efficiency and less bureaucracy.  We must modernize the government processes used to build hospitals and deliver medicine.

Also, we must focus on retaining and bringing doctors to Illinois – especially, primary care physicians.  We are hemorrhaging doctors to nearby states with lower fees and better tort reforms.  For example, if Illinois lowered penalty costs for malpractice and created a board for review of malpractice cases before litigation, we would lower the costs of malpractice insurance in Illinois by ensuring there were less frivolous malpractice cases.

Last, we can provide access to affordable health insurance coverage for all by giving consumers more choices in the healthcare insurance market by allowing bids across state lines and businesses to partner in choosing healthcare providers.  For example, I would support efforts to allow owners of McDonald’s franchises to bid together on health insurance plans.  This would enable franchisee owners to provide lower cost healthcare insurance to their employees.