The Illinois State Medical Society (ISMS) firmly believes that health system reform should keep what’s right and fix what’s wrong within the current system. In our view, there are two central goals: expanding patient access to quality, affordable care and preserving the physician-patient relationship. ISMS recognizes that achieving meaningful reform will require legislative compromise and trade-offs by everyone with a genuine interest in expanding coverage to all Americans. ISMS will continue to evaluate current and future health reform proposals, and the final product, with these goals in mind.

The health care reform debate and legislative content are evolving daily. Rather than taking a stance on any specific bill at this time, the ISMS will continue to speak out on the issues as they emerge. Guided by our ISMS health care reform principles (www.isms.org/Physicians/Documents/reform_principles.pdf), we will review and point out the benefits and drawbacks of legislative proposals and their effect on patients and their doctors.

Our positions on health system reform are clear.

The Illinois State Medical Society supports:

• Access to affordable health insurance coverage for all, tailored to individual needs and with individual responsibility for obtaining insurance and finding a medical home.
• Health insurance market reforms to help patients obtain and keep affordable health insurance and to remedy widely documented abusive insurer practices such as preexisting condition exclusions and denials of medically necessary care.
• Changes in antitrust law to promote information sharing and care coordination between doctors and to level the playing field in negotiations with health plans.
• Permanent correction of the fatally flawed Medicare physician payment formula (SGR) which has restricted patient access to care.
• Strong and effective medical litigation reforms to reduce the costs of wasteful defensive medicine.
• Subsidies for low-income individuals and families to purchase private health insurance, as a means of covering the uninsured and as a market-based alternative to Medicaid expansion.
• Health education, prevention and wellness initiatives to improve patients’ overall health and reduce long-term costs.
• More resources for primary care, but not at the expense of other physicians or specialties.
• Initiatives and incentives to assure there will be enough physicians trained in the future to care for patients.

The Illinois State Medical Society opposes:

• Government-mandated treatment guidelines that interfere with doctors’ clinical decision-making and the doctor-patient partnership.
• A government-subsidized “public option” that would unfairly compete in the health insurance market.
• A “public option” that ties physician reimbursement to Medicare’s inadequate payment rates and/or mandates physician participation.
• A single payor health system. ISMS believes health system reform should improve and expand upon the current public-private system and focus on incremental, evolutionary change.
• Further expansion of Medicaid as a means of covering the uninsured. Given Illinois’ track record of a woefully underfunded Medicaid program, we much prefer subsidies for the private purchase of health insurance by low-income patients.

ISMS has reviewed HR 3200 in depth and believes, in light of the principles outlined above, it presents both significant positives and negatives for Illinois doctors and their patients. Go to
www.isms.org/govtaffairs/greatdebate/Documents/ISMS-HR3200-analysis.pdf to read our analysis of the bill. Check back often for updates and analyses on future health reform legislation as the process continues.

The ISMS encourages the physicians of Illinois and our affiliate county medical societies to contact their congressional representatives/senators to comment about the strengths or deficiencies of any pending or future health care legislation.