ASA obtains Senate Finance Committee Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform
Chicago —
(September 8, 2009)
The ASA has obtained a copy of a Senate Finance Committee document titled “Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform.” While only a framework, the long-awaited document provides insight toward the Committee’s overall direction for reform. Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) has made it clear that negotiations are ongoing, and that changes could occur before the Committee moves forward with a formal proposal.
Senate Finance Committee Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform
President Obama's planned address tomorrow night may offer more context and information about the Finance Committee’s framework.
Notable for ASA, the proposal does not include a new government plan based upon Medicare payment rates.
“I am very optimistic about the direction that the Senate Finance Committee is taking, because its framework for health reform legislation does not include new government plan based upon Medicare payment rates,” said Roger A. Moore, M.D., ASA President. “We will continue following developments very closely, and will work with the Finance Committee and other Congressional leaders to ensure that the final version of reform legislation allows physicians to freely negotiate payment rates. ASA supports comprehensive reform, including basic health insurance reforms, that protects patients and the physicians who provide their care.”
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Anesthesiologists: Physicians providing the lifeline of modern medicine. Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is an educational, research and scientific association with 46,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology and improve the care of the patient.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists Web site at www.asahq.org. For patient information, visit LifeLineToModernMedicine.com
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