Senators Coburn, Burr and Representatives Ryan, Nunes Offer The Patients' Choice Act

May 21, 2009

Yesterday, Senators Tom Coburn and Richard Burr and Representatives Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes introduced The Patients' Choice Act. They should be applauded for their leadership. The Patients' Choice Act is a serious, transformative proposal that if enacted would dramatically improve our healthcare system and the health of individual Americans.

They take on the toughest challenges we face: improving individual health and managing chronic disease; delivering the best quality care; expanding affordable coverage to every American; and putting Medicare and Medicaid on solid, sustainable ground. And every idea starts in exactly the right place: the individual. Individuals should be empowered and encouraged to decide for themselves what is best for them. From choosing what doctor to see to what insurance to buy to what course of treatment to take, only an individually-centered healthcare system will bring about the real change that we need.

The Patients’ Choice Act is an important and necessary contribution to the debate over how to transform health and healthcare in America. It builds upon well-developed areas of bipartisanship, complementing the thoughtful work thus far of Senator Max Baucus, such as delivering greater transparency and understanding to consumers, surfacing best practices, rewarding quality care, and modernizing through health information technology. And it puts forth new solutions to rationalize medical liability, offer new coverage options, and allow consumers to control their decisions.

The problems we face in healthcare know no political party, and neither do all the solutions. As the debates begin in earnest over how to actually solve these problems, everyone should be encouraged to offer ideas. We are at our best when we work collaboratively to put forth bold, transformative solutions.

Staff from these offices will be participating on a CHT member call regarding this subject on May 26th at 2 pm Eastern. Read more >>