Health Care Myth: Health Reform Will Limit Patient Choice

HEALTH CARE MYTH: HEALTH REFORM WILL LIMIT PATIENT CHOICE -- (House of Representatives - March 24, 2009)

Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Another health care myth--if we reform our health care system, patients will lose choice. Again, this is simply not true. First, it begs the question: What choice do patients have today?

In America, we have choice, but too often it lies not with the doctor or patient, but with the insurance company.

Patients are denied physician-prescribed treatment, doctors are denied reimbursement for necessary care, and increasingly restrictive networks of coverage mean restrictive choice for patients.

A survey of the leading proposals for reform shows that no one is talking about limiting patient choice. In fact, a publicly sponsored plan, with a potential network of millions of Americans, would likely have one of the most robust networks of providers in the system, since doctors and hospitals would want and need to have access to this large pool of patients.

A public plan itself increases patient choice by allowing families to decide whether they want to continue with their private insurance plan or move to a publicly sponsored plan that might provide better coverage due to lower administrative and profit costs.

Health care reform limiting patient choice? It's just another myth about our health care system.

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