Healthcare - always an issue during an election year - has even the New England Journal of Medicine presenting comments by presidential candidates Obama and Romney

Obama vs. Romney on Healthcare in NEJM

By Peggy Peck, Editor-in-Chief, MedPage Today

Published: September 26, 2012

 

Less than a week after they co-starred on TV's "60 Minutes," President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney delivered another "showdown" with dueling commentaries on the Affordable Care Act, published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

The statements came in response to a request from NEJM editors asking the candidates to "describe their healthcare platforms and their visions for the future of American healthcare."

Not surprisingly, the statements were long on sound bites and light on details.

The president made a case for "Obamacare" -- and he, too, used that term in his statement, saying he doesn't mind the term because "I do care."

Romney pledged to repeal Obamacare and replace it with "common-sense, patient-centered reforms suited to the challenges we face."

If re-elected, Obama said his priorities will include:

• A permanent fix for "Medicare's flawed payment formula that threatens physicians' reimbursement"
• Medical malpractice reform that doesn't include "placing arbitrary caps that do nothing to lower the cost of care"
• Support of clinical research.

Moreover, he wrote, "I will keep Medicare and Medicaid strong, working to make the programs more efficient without undermining the fundamental guarantees."

Romney said he will control and reduce healthcare costs by offering incentives to do so to everyone, "providers, insurers, and patients." He did not, however, offer many specifics about those incentives, but he did call for changes in the tax code as well as strengthening and expanding "health savings accounts" and establishing "strong consumer protections."

A Romney-Ryan administration would not propose any changes to Medicare for current beneficiaries or for those who would be enrolling in the next 10 years, Romney wrote, but future beneficiaries would be covered through a means-tested premium support program.

Romney also pledged support of "those who cannot afford the care they need."

"We will provide support for low-income Americans and those uninsured persons whose preexisting conditions push the cost of coverage too high for them to pay themselves. But my experience as a governor and the lessons from the president's attempt at a one-size-fits-all national solution convince me that it is states -- not Washington -- that should lead this effort. I will convert Medicaid into a block grant that properly aligns each state's incentives around using resources efficiently. Each state will have the flexibility to craft programs that most effectively address its challenges -- as I did in Massachusetts, where we got 98% of our residents insured without raising taxes."

The health reform plan in Massachusetts, "Romneycare," has often been cited as a model for the Affordable Care Act, particularly in its implementation of an individual mandate.

Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine

Source reference:
Obama, B "Securing the future of American health care" This article was published on Sept. 26, 2012, at NEJM.org.

Additional source: New Enland Journal of Medicine
Source reference:
Romney, M "Replacing Obamacare with real health care reform" This article was published on Sept. 26, 2012, at NEJM.org.