MSSNY President Sam Unterricht, MD, Comments on the Affordable Care Act

WESTBURY, NY (09/24/2013)(readMedia)-- Today, former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to welcome President Obama, who is here to promote the Affordable Care Act at Clinton's annual celebrity-filled charitable gathering in New York. The President, in a concerted effort, is expected to advance the insurance marketplaces that will open for business a week from today on October 1.

The Medical Society of the State of New York's President, Sam L. Unterricht, MD, stated, "Instead of one side engaging in PR tactics designed to promote a health care reform law with numerous flaws, and the other side engaging in a vain attempt to prevent implementation of a law that has been upheld by the Supreme Court, the President and Congress need to put aside partisan differences to work together to fix the flaws of the ACA to assure that the goals of law are met – guaranteeing that patients can receive quality and timely health care from the physician of their choice.

Some of these essential reforms include:

• preserving Medicare access for seniors by eliminating the outrageous SGR Medicare physician payment formula that threatens huge cuts every year;

• repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) that similarly threatens to limit care access for seniors. (Even though the IPAB cuts may not take effect this year, IPAB cuts pose a tremendous threat for the future);

• reducing the exorbitant and unsustainable liability exposure faced by physicians and hospitals by enacting comprehensive medical liability reform;

• enacting antitrust reform to permit independently practicing physicians to collectively negotiate with health insurance companies so as to preserve the right of physicians to advocate for their patients against market-dominant insurers.

• improving clarity of physicians' fees and co-insurance payments expected of each patient (which vary with each insurance company);

• expanding the use of patient-controlled health savings accounts as a means to expand health insurance coverage; and

• promoting out- of- network options.

Founded in 1807, the Medical Society of the State of New York is the state's principal non-profit professional organization for physicians, residents and medical students of all specialties. Its mission is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.

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