Letters to the Editor

Health Care For All

Printed in the Washington Post, April 26, 2002

David Broder is correct to say the health care system is in crisis (Health Care in a 'Death Cycle', April 17, 2002). The single biggest reason is that the health insurance system is fragmented and incomplete, leaving 40 million Americans without coverage. Until everyone is covered by health insurance, the system will remain too fragmented for any serious attempts at cost control or the improvement of delivery systems.

The American College of Physicians- American Society of Internal Medicine (ACP-ASIM) has developed a comprehensive plan to ensure that all Americans have health insurance within seven years. This plan seeks to preserve what is best about the American approach to health care by working through existing health care delivery systems.

The College plan would accomplish the following goals.

  • For the first time, everyone would have access to affordable health insurance, either through existing public programs or thorough subsidized private health insurance.

  • Every health plan would be required to offer a basic standard package of benefits including preventive services, as a condition of participating in the subsidized premium support program.

  • Every health plan would also be required to agree to uniform new federal rules on risk rating and the right to renew as a condition of participation.

  • Purchasing groups would give individuals the collective buying power that is now available only to large groups.

  • Individuals would have a much greater choice of health plans and physicians, and more continuity of care, than exists under the current fragmented system.

The ACP-ASIM's plan provides detailed steps and a timetable for achieving each of these goals. This approach improves and preserves the employer-based health insurance system, while expanding government programs already in place and functioning well. If the nation's leaders do not take action soon, we may one day discover that the ills affecting the nation's health care system have left it comatose.

Sara Walker, MD, MACP
President
American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine

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