One of the opening keynotes sessions this Monday morning at the World Health Care Congress at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC, was “The Presidential Health Care Agenda” which featured health care policy advisors to the three remaining major presidential candidates, as well as a reactor panel to comment on their proposals.

McCain

Thomas Miller, Resident Fellow for the The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research advises Senator John McCain.  Mr Miller is a former senior health economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. His presentation outlined the following menu:

1. Bringing costs under control is the priority, which will require fundamental change
2. The objective must be to enhance quality while controlling costs
3. Access to must be provided to the uninsured
4. VA (Veteran) care should include a privatized option
5. Competition and innovation needs further promotion throughout the health care system
6. Consumers should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care, with a larger role in prevention and care, decision-making and responsibility.
7. Facilitate greater disclosure to consumers on treatment options; provider transparency regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices; and development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
8. Reform the Medicare payment systems to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination and disallow payments for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
9. Promote greater focus in federal research on treatment of chronic disease
10. Allow increased state pilots on various initiatives
11. Permitting providers to practice nationwide versus state by state licensure
12. Promote rapid deployment of Health Information Technology
13. Promote innovative delivery systems such as Convenient Care Clinics
14. • Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental
15. health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited.
16. • Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic versions of
17. drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit
18. re-importation to keep competition vigorous.
19. Implement Tort reform and provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols.
20. Promote vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices.
21. Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage.
22. Individuals witht multi-year policies that cost less than the full credit can deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
23. Insurance offerings should be available nationwide, across state lines
24. State must develop Medicaid financial “risk adjustment” bonus programs to high-cost and low-income families to supplement tax credits and Medicaid funds.
25. Accommodate insurance enrollment with portability via any available vehicle that meets a certification process including: employers, individual purchases, churches, professional association, etc
26. Undertake public health initiatives to address obesity and diabetes, smoking cessation, and childhood health education

Obama

Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) is an advisor to Senator Barak Obama. Congressman Cooper represents Tennessee's Fifth Congressional District, was a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University; and has a J.D. from Harvard Law School. In a previous stint as congressman for the Fourth Congressional District from 1983-95 his legislative focus was on health care, literacy and other rural concerns. IN his current stint as the Fifth District representative, he serves on the Armed Services, Budget, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees. He continues to teach as an adjunct professor at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, where he has taught a course on health care policy for ten years.  His presentation covered the following:

1. Provide affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage to individuals and small businesses via the FEHBP (Federal Employees Employee Benefit Program) with guaranteed issue, and low income subsidies.
2. Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange to reform the private insurance market, whereby anyone could enroll in participating private plans, with guaranteed issue, comprehensive benefits, and affordable, stable premiums.
3. Ensuring all 9 million currently uninsured children have coverage
4. Expand Medicaid and SCHIP
5. Requiring employers to make a set minimum contribution to the health coverage• Require guaranteed issue for all health plans with no differential in pricing based on preexisting conditions.
6. Promote adoption of state-of-the-art health information technology systems
7. Increase access to preventive care and chronic disease management programs
8. Require hospitals to collect and report health care cost and quality data
9. Increase competition in the insurance and drug markets
10. Allowing importation of safe medicines from other developed countries and increasing use of generics in public programs
11. Require coverage of preventive services

Clinton

Chris Jennings, President , Jennings Policy Strategies (JPS), Inc. advises Senator Hillary Clintton. JPS is a health policy and advocacy consulting firm in Washington, D.C. JPS advises businesses (e.g., General Motors), public employers (e.g., CalPERS), labor organizations (e.g., AFL-CIO and SEIU), consumer groups (e.g., AARP and the Partnership for Women & Families) and foundations (e.g., the Clinton Global Initiative).  He was a White House Senior Health Care Advisor during the Bill Clinton administration. His presentation discussed:

1. Americans can keep their existing coverage receive coverage through the FEHBP.  They will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare.
2. No American may be denied coverage, refused renewal, unfairly priced out of the market, or forced to pay excessive insurance company premiums.
3. Insurance companies will end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions or expectations of illness
4. Requirement that drug companies offer fair prices and accurate information.
5. Individuals: will be responsible for getting and keeping insurance
6. Large employers will be expected to provide health insurance or contribute to the cost of coverage
7. Working families will receive a refundable tax credit to help them afford high-quality health coverage.
8. Limit Premium Payments to a Percentage of Income: The refundable tax credit will
9. be designed to prevent premiums from exceeding a percentage of family income
10. Create a New Small Business Tax Credit: for small businesses to create or continue jobs with health coverage
11. Expand Medicaid and SCHIP
12. Retiree Health Legacy Initiative: A new tax credit for qualifying private and
13. public retiree health plans
14. Continue to protect the current exclusion from taxes of employer-provided health premiums, but limits the exclusion for the high-end portion of very generous plans for those making over $250,000.