Congressman outlines proposed changes to U.S. health system at AAPOS

KEYSTONE, Colorado — Turning patients into health care “consumers” will create more responsible patients and will allow them to have better relationships with their physicians, according to Rep. Pete Sessions.

Mr. Sessions, a Republican from Texas, was a special guest speaker at the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting. He told the audience that he feels a personal connection with pediatric ophthalmology, as father to one son with ocular problems related to Down syndrome and another son who was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at age 16.

Mr. Sessions discussed congressional efforts under way in Washington to change the direction of health care in the 21st century. He said the current Congress is nearly evenly divided over whether there should be a single-payer system or a free market for medical services in the United States.

Mr. Sessions said he sides with those who believe in a free market system in which patients will be able to pay out of pocket for services. To accomplish this, some advocates in Congress, along with the Bush Administration, are seeking to establish health savings accounts, he said.

These accounts would enable all Americans – not just those with corporate jobs – to purchase health care services on a pre-tax basis so they can pay in cash at the time a medical service is rendered.

“[Patients] will be able to come to you, write you a check on a cash basis for what you do, and you will not have to fight the insurance companies,” Mr. Sessions said.

Another initiative pending in Washington would have hospitals list their services along with the upper end of the price range for those services, so that patients would know exactly what they are getting and how much they could expect to pay.

“Many hospitals are spending much too much time justifying what they charge,” Mr. Sessions said.

He argued that this proposed bill would ensure fairer rates for everyone and would reinstate a sense of trust between patient and doctor.

Both initiatives, he said, are geared to turn patients into “consumers,” and to make them more personally responsible for ensuring the quality of their own care.

He urged ophthalmologists to “find a way to get to know your members of Congress” and work to continually improve the practice of medicine.

“What is at risk here is something that should be solved and should not go by the wayside,” he said.