Hospitals absent from Dems' affordability agenda
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As Democrats in Congress start building out an affordability agenda for when they're next in power, hospitals are noticeably absent.
Why it matters: It's extremely difficult — if not impossible — to significantly reduce what patients (and the government) pay for their health care without touching providers.
State of play: The most methodical effort to create a health care agenda is happening in the Senate Finance Committee, which has announced three projects on prescription drug prices, private health insurance and long-term care.
- I asked top committee Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, who is leading the effort, how hospitals fit into his work.
- "I believe that in terms of the longer term, hospital pricing needs to be part of the conversation, just like everything else," he said.
- When I asked him why hospitals weren't part of the initial list of topics they're focusing on, he replied, "Because we have our hands full, and you can only do so much."
The intrigue: Elected Democrats are, as a whole, much further behind some outside progressive groups.
- The Center for American Progress, in its own health care affordability proposal, calls for limiting hospital rates in concentrated markets to three times the Medicare payment rate.
- Patient advocacy group Families USA is running a campaign calling for Congress to stand up against "big hospital corporations" and enact site-neutral policies that pay the same price for a service regardless of where it's performed.
Yes, but: There's bipartisan interest in legislation addressing certain hospital business practices or payment policies.
- Though it's hard for Congress to work together on much of anything these days, that does create an opening for dealmaking in the next Congress, even if it's a split government.
What they're saying: "There's a hesitancy on the Democratic side to constrain payment rates for hospitals if you don't reinvest some of those savings to ensure people are covered," Democratic consultant Chris Jennings said.
- "This is particularly the case as you've seen how the marketplace disenrollments in hospital land have imposed more and more uncompensated care burdens."
