Internal medicine physicians recommend key elements to guide state i...( Washington -- A white paper that exa...),Health

Washington -- A white paper that examines various state initiatives to expand access to health insurance, as well as proposals by the President and Congress in support of state efforts, was distributed today by the American College of Physicians (ACP).

The paper, State Experimentation with Reforms to Expand Access to Health Care, also identifies key elements that should be a part of any state-based reform. It is a summary of state efforts to reform health care and recommendations on key elements that should be included in any reform.

ACP recognizes that all states cannot use the same framework to achieve universal coverage and that experimentation with various models is desirable, noted David C. Dale, MD, FACP, president of ACP. In this paper, the College offers 10 recommen-dations to states as they develop models to expand access to care for their residents.

Subtitled A Summary of State Efforts to Reform Health Care and Recommendations From the American College of Physicians on Key Elements That Should be Included in Any Reform, the paper brings together state efforts to expand coverage to states uninsured residents. Many of the proposals already have been signed into law and are in various stages of implementation. Others are proposals by state legislatures and Governors that currently are being debated.

ACP has a long-standing commitment to making affordable health insurance available to all Americans. In earlier papers, it has documented the cost of lack of health insurance and the impact of lack of health insurance coverage on health outcomes and proposed core principles for evaluating proposals to expand coverage.

In 2002, the College outlined a national framework to achieve universal coverage that includes a combination of premium subsidies, tax credits, purchasing groups, insurance market reforms, and expansion of Medicaid and the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The plan also includes a
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