Community Statement for Fair Health Care
The undersigned organizations and concerned individuals are proud to join in support of Congressional and Administrative action to protect America’s hospitals, safeguard the patient-clinician relationship, and ensure patient access to the quality care all Americans deserve.
A major hallmark of American medicine is the patient-clinician relationship, which has long been recognized as essential to a patient-centered health care system. Honoring patient choice and the ethical delivery of care, this relationship has made life-changing advancement possible in treatment, technology, and service delivery. However, numerous challenges are now jeopardizing patient access to care.
Today, America’s hospitals are operating at a net loss totaling billions of dollars, which is forcing many of them to lay off critically needed staff and treatment slots. As a result, the nation is projected to face a health care worker shortage of 3.2 million positions by 2025, even as the nation’s patient population is expected to grow. Exacerbating this shortage is an historic high in physician burnout, with two-thirds of all practicing physicians now reported as experiencing one or more burnout symptoms.
Increasingly, clinicians are also being forced to contend with abusive insurer behavior that often impedes their delivery of care. Powerful health plans, insurance issuers, and third-party administrators are imposing processing delays, complex coverage rules, and unwarranted claims denials. Additionally, payors are imposing deep reimbursement cuts that are placing an unsustainable strain on our health care delivery system.
Most recently, health plans, insurers, and third-party administrators are compounding this strain through manipulation of the No Surprises Act (NSA). Congress worked hard to develop legislation that would protect patients from balance billing and stabilize access to care. However, many payors are instead using NSA to impose new rules on clinicians, sharply reduce payment rates, terminate contracts, and avoid open communication – even as they report record profits. The problem has become so acute that hospitals are losing medical groups on whom their patients rely, and lawsuits have been filed to secure NSA-based policies that reflect Congressional intent.
No insured American should be without the coverage for which they have paid, and no payor should take advantage of the No Surprises Act to put profits before patients. Given the vital importance of hospitals and the patient-clinician relationship to deliver patient-centered care, we urge Congress and the Administration to combat insurer abuse and undertake targeted action that will protect patients, clinicians, and our communities.
