The New Health Dialogue

Len Nichols, Director of the New America Foundation's Health Policy Program, shares his thoughts with the Washington Post and explains why the Senate's health reform bill is getting better:

The Senate bill is getting better in three ways:

First, a large group of freshman senators introduced a package of amendments that enhance the Senate legislation's ability to control costs and improve quality. They (1) ensure that all providers will be rewarded for value, not volume; (2) broaden the scope of an Independent Advisory Board to include recommendations for the whole health-care system; and (3) call for the immediate review and timely removal of legal and regulatory barriers to new payment models that would improve quality and efficiency of all physicians, hospitals and payers.

Second, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) will offer a bipartisan free-choice amendment that encourages insurer competition by giving workers and employers the range of choices all Americans deserve.

Finally, a team of 10 Democratic senators with diverse perspectives is working on the last details of a package that includes the long-awaited public-option denouement. These leaders are creating consensus and balance among the compelling goals of expanding consumer choice, intensifying insurer competition, and maintaining access to high-quality providers for current and future Medicare beneficiaries. This bill is moving in the right direction, toward the right outcome: law.