GOP seeks new formula for health care system


Two visions of America


The Republicans

Part 1: How locals say Romney will fix the economy

Part 2: GOP seeks new formula for health care system

Part 3: Defense cuts worry Romney supporters

The Democrats

Part 1: Obama backers say he's on track to fix economy

Part 2: Democrats embrace health care changes

Part 3 Obama's defense vision finds supporters in local veterans community

Biology is not ideology. When Dr. Wayne Iverson gathers his patients’ medical history, the La Jolla physician doesn’t grill them about their voting history.

Yet, health care reform is one of the country’s most divisive political issues.

“Earlier, I was perplexed why Republicans and Democrats have such a hard time coming together to figure out a solution,” said Iverson, whose practice focuses on internal medicine and noninvasive cardiology. “It would help everybody.”

Then Iverson ran as a Republican in the primary for California’s 52nd Congressional District. While losing to GOP Rep. Brian Bilbray and Democrat Scott Peters, the doctor gained a new perspective.

“There is a fundamental difference between the parties” on health care, he said. “The Democrats feel that government has to be involved in coming up with a solution, that people can’t do this on their own. What Republicans believe is that people can decide these things on their own, and that free-market principles apply in this area just as they do when you go out to buy a house or a car.”

This week at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., presidential nominee Mitt Romney will draw sharp distinctions between Republican approaches to the nation’s problems and Democratic proposals.

In health care, for instance, Romney stresses free-market competition as the key to driving down medical costs. He argues that states, not Washington, should play the lead role in regulating insurance companies and providing services to low-income Americans. And the candidate’s website pledges to “repeal and replace Obamacare” — the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that is partially based on a Massachusetts law backed by then-Gov. Romney.

In San Diego County, home to top-notch hospitals and medical schools, thousands of doctors and nurses, as well as many medical-device manufacturers, these are powerful issues.

For Republicans, Romney’s prescription for health care offers the answer for dealing with high costs, regulation and oversight.

Skin in the game

The United States enjoys a reputation for world-class medicine, yet this care comes at a high cost. Americans annually spend more than $2.6 trillion on medical services and products; most of this tab is covered by insurance, often provided by employers. That limits consumers’ expenses, but it’s a Republican article of faith that comprehensive coverage swells health care’s bottom line.

“If you have insurance,” noted Dr. Stephen Guffanti, a general practitioner in San Marcos and San Diego County Republican Central Committee member, “your Number One question to the doctor is ‘Does my insurance cover this?’ It’s not, ‘Is this necessary?’”

Americans would undergo fewer elective procedures and pay lower insurance premiums, Republicans argue, if workplace policies only covered catastrophic injuries and diseases. To pay for routine care, workers would funnel their own money and employer contributions into Health Savings Accounts. This, the argument goes, would encourage people to shop for economical care.



