“The keys to solving the U.S. healthcare system’s pervasive cost problem include competitive market forces and a commitment to a value-based approach to payment, two senior Trump administration healthcare officials said during speeches this week at the Better Medicare Alliance in Washington, D.C.”
“Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday that social determinants of health—the solutions for which are generally considered to fall outside the purview of traditional healthcare service providers—can drive a lot of the nation’s healthcare spending. So it makes sense for government-sponsored health plans to expand the scope of what they are willing to cover, he said…”
“Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, who spoke Monday, said so called ‘Medicare-for-All,’ single-payer, and ‘public option’ proposals from the left are doubling down on the Affordable Care Act’s fundamental failure to curb spending…”
“Verma, like Azar, cited Medicare Advantage as among the administration’s successes, noting that MA plans compete on the basis of cost and quality. With the added flexibility granted to MA plans, the program has gained 600 new plans, premiums have fallen to their lowest level in six years, and enrollment as risen 10 percent to an all-time high of nearly 23 million MA beneficiaries, she said.” Read the full article here.
Source: Azar and Verma: Competition, Value-Based Models Needed to Fix Our Cost Problem – By Steven Porter, July 23, 2019. HealthLeaders.
