A recent report was issued by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which laid out an agenda for the reform of health and health care, offering ways to redirect health care to more efficient practices in the wake of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Joseph Antos, co-author of the report and Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), has identified a starting place for reform.
“First, have a group of politicians who will consider an alternative to the current system,” Antos told Patient Daily. “The ACA has permanently changed health care, so we need to make changes to go in the right direction.”
Antos added that states need to be treated with parity under the ACA.
“Some states expanded where others did not,” Antos said. “Regardless of this choice, we have to treat every state fairly. A lot of what we write about is how to proceed with reform effectively and fairly. It is up to the states to decide what to keep and not to keep, whether it is the current system or an updated one. It is really the states’ choice.”
When addressing the current ACA guidelines, Antos explained that the system needs to be revamped.
“We are not suggesting that anything be thrown out," Antos said. "We are starting where we are and trying to help improve the system.”
Antos advocates for a health care system that emphasizes the patient.
“We are concerned about the overall cost of health care, and we promote a system that encourages efficient and appropriate health care,” Antos told Patient Daily. “Patients and doctors need to be able to make choices that are most affordable for them. We address necessary and unnecessary usages of medical facilities and health care to see what drives up costs unnecessarily.”
One example Antos offered was the prevalence of return visits. Although some are necessary, many not only waste time -- they cost money.
