WASHINGTON ?? While the future of the 2010 health care law stabilized with the re-election of President Obama, both Democrats and Republicans say now is the time for them to come together to fix it. <\/p>\n
\"They need to actually create some solutions together,\" said Don Berwick, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. \"I've had a few conversations with people from both sides; everyone resonates with the idea that something needs to happen.\" <\/p>\n
Until Tuesday, when Obama's future was determined, Republicans opposed to the law waited for a change in administrations that would allow them to repeal the law. That will not happen now with a Democrat in the White House for the next four years. Repeal is no longer an option, and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called it the law of the land. <\/p>\n
But changes are imminent. \"It's pretty clear to me that the [law] will not end up the way it is now,\" said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and former economic policy adviser to 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain. <\/p>\n
The analysts do agree on one thing, even if they don't necessarily agree on how to go about it: Cutting costs through provider payments, rather than through the health care system itself, won't cause health care costs to stabilize. <\/p>\n
\"I think with the lack of continuity in care and excess costs to the system, the very best way to address the problem is to improve care,\" Berwick said. <\/p>\n
That's partially built into the law with a move toward coordinated care in Medicare, as well as charging hospitals if a Medicare patient is readmitted for preventable issues. But more must come from prevention, experts say. <\/p>\n
\"We're not going to cut entitlements by continuing to cut payment rates,\" said Ken Thorpe, chair of the department of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta. <\/p>\n
Instead, he said, lower costs must come from encouraging people to take better care of themselves through proven diabetes-management and weight-loss programs, as well as improved coordination of care inside medical organizations so everyone on a team knows what the other is doing for a patient. <\/p>\n
\"We need to avert disease in the first place,\" Thorpe said. \"All of our growth is in multiple chronic health problems. The IPAB and premium control won't work without prevention.\" <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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