Government
Ohio physicians propose insurance mandate
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 15, 2007
An Ohio State Medical Assn. panel last month unveiled its principles to reform the state's health system. The Physicians Task Force on Access and Quality, which has been meeting since January, recommended adoption of an individual insurance mandate, better wellness incentives, preventive care, improved quality and transparency, and a self-sustaining system.
The task force decided early in its work that the plan should attempt to cover the state's 1.3 million uninsured, said Neal Nesbitt, MD, a general surgeon and the task force's chair. The group would like to see the existing employer-based system transformed into more of a consumer-based model, but that doesn't mean the new system would start from the ground up, he said.
"We're not going to bulldoze the house of medicine. What we're going to do is to try to remodel the house we have," Dr. Nesbitt said. The principles suggest a tax on "lifestyle choices that are detrimental to good health" as one funding mechanism.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/10/15/gvbf1015.htm.
