Monday, November 14, 2016

Select Tweets from Keynote Address at Texas Association of Healthplans Conference

Today the Texas Association of Health Plans (TAHP) kicked off their 2016 TAHP Managed Care Conference & Trade Show in Dallas, TX. The TAHP is a trade association representing all major commercial & Medicaid health plans in Texas that is committed to increasing access to affordable, quality care for all Texans.
The keynote address was by Aaron Carroll, MD, of The Incidental Economist and the title of his keynote was The Affordable Care Act: Preparing for 2017 and Beyond.

As is more often the rule versus the exception nowadays, the conference is being live tweeted using the conference-specific hashtag #TAHP2016.

The following are highlighted tweets from Dr. Carrolls keynote – courtesy of the @txhealthplans Twitter account.

What Did Dr. Carroll Have to Say about Preparing for 2017 and Beyond?

The three legged stool of PPACA: 1. Regulations 2. Individual Mandates 3. Subsidies

It's difficult for people in the U.S. to get the care they need when they need it.

1/3 of American citizens avoid care because of cost.

The fiscal outlook for #healthcare spending looks better because things have been growing more slowly.

The problem isn't that we spend more on healthcare, it's that we spend more than you'd expect given our wealth.

We have far fewer doctors than you'd expect, a major shortage of generalists.

We are in the lower half of countries when it comes to deaths from cancer.

More people die from heart disease in this country than you'd expect.

Access is bad (but maybe improving?), quality is below what we want, costs are sky-high.

With last week's election, all bets are off. #ACA #Election2016

There's no way the #ACA will stand as it is.

The only thing standing in the way of full-on repeal of the #ACA is a filibuster.

Most laws require half the house and half the senate.

Option 1 for the #GOP - Reconciliation, only requires 51 votes. #ACA

Option 2 - Repeal & Replace #ACA. Option 1 leads to 22M people becoming uninsured; won't be popular.

Paul Ryan's Better Way is a refundable tax credit to help defray the cost of premiums.

Paul Ryan's plan does keep guaranteed issue but does not keep the community ratings.

There are too many doctors that are sued on cases that don't have any merit. #tortreform

In 2003, Texas passed comprehensive tort reform.

Just passing tort reform doesn't bring it down.

Tort reform is necessary, malpractice reform is necessary; but it's a red herring.

Medicaid block payments are the low-hanging fruit of the next few years.

Right now, Medicaid works by matched money.

The debate is how much money are they going to give and how much will dry up in the future.

Most savings in budget are from radically reducing payments; cut spending by 35% by 2022 & 49% by 2030.

The devil is in how this will be spun politically and how payments will be reduced in the future.

Life expectancy isn't that different at age 65 since 1970.

The poor 1/2 of U.S. has seen their life expectency increase by a year. Hasn't gone up as much as people think.

How much will it cost? Employers would have to pay additional $4.5B. The costs outweigh the savings.

Other ideas - change the actuarial values of plans offered (60/70/80/90 ➡️ 45/55/70/85)

The #ACA isn't as prescriptive as people think. Birth Control is an example.

The #ACA doesn't demand birth control be covered. It delegates that decision to the HHS Secretary.

Inaction is as good as action. Right now, the Obama Administration is fighting King v. Burwell. 

There's a lot we could still do to improve the #healthcare system. #txlege

Anyone who tells you they know what's going on right now is lying. #ACA

What's Next?

The TAHP conference runs through Wednesday, November 16th. You can know more about what's been said and shared at the conference by following the #TAHP2016 hashtag.  You can also learn more about healthcare data, technology and services topics by following me on Twitter.

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