John McCain has proposed comprehensive, pro-market health care and Medicare reforms to reduce health care costs and control increases in premiums -- while delivering high-quality health care.
Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees, and allow companies to effectively compete around the world.
Under McCain's plan, families would be in charge of their health care dollars and have more say in their coverage and treatment. The idea is to improve health and spend less, while promoting competition on the cost and quality of care. Doing this involves taking better care of people with chronic illness and promoting prevention that will keep millions of others from developing deadly and debilitating diseases.
While reforming the system and maintaining quality, McCain believes in providing access to health care for every citizen, whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, living in rural areas with limited services or residing in inner cities where access to physicians is often limited.
McCain believes in giving veterans the freedom to choose to carry their Veterans Administration dollars to a provider that gives them timely, high-quality care in convenient locations.
Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change, McCain says, and nothing short of a complete reform of the culture of our health care system and the way we pay for it will suffice. McCain would reform federal policies and programs and focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs. He would implement a plan that would:
- Promote competition throughout the health care system - between providers and among alternative treatments.
- Make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both prevention and care, putting more decisions and responsibility in their hands
- Give the public more information on treatment options and require transparency by providers regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices
- Facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes
- Reform the payment systems in Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination.
- Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
- Dedicate federal research on the basis of sound science resulting in greater focus on care and cure of chronic disease
- Give states the flexibility and encouragement they need to experiment with:
- alternative forms of access
- risk-adjusted payments per episode covered under Medicaid
- use of private insurance in Medicaid
- alternative insurance policies and insurance providers
- different licensing schemes for medical providers
- Build genuine national markets by permitting providers to practice nationwide
- Promote rapid deployment of 21st century information systems
- Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors
- Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited
- Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic drug alternatives and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit their re-importation to keep competition vigorous
- Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards
- Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols
- Protect the health care consumer through vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices.
