WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 – As Congress starts work on a health reform bill, citizen advocacy group U.S. PIRG has identified a path to lower costs, not by cutting care, but by delivering better, more efficient care.
An upcoming policy brief from U.S. PIRG examines problems in the America’s health care delivery system, including widely varying payment rates between various regions of the country. In the document, U.S. PIRG finds that the difference between the cost of care for Medicare beneficiaries in Los Angeles and Seattle is large enough to buy a BMW for every beneficiary in the LA area.
“Healthcare reform is critical to reining in high health care costs. But, done right, it can also help doctors and other providers be more effective at the job they signed up to do in the first place –providing real, personalized care to your family,” U.S. PIRG Health Care Advocate, Larry McNeely.
Intended to influence health reform legislation now under development in Congress, the five-page policy brief concludes with a detailed set of policy fixes for regional payment disparities and other delivery system problems.
U.S. PIRG’s brief will be released next week to selected Capitol Hill offices and on U.S. PIRG’s website.
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U.S. PIRG, federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. For more information visit www.uspirg.org
