Elect Ron Kind for Congress - Wisconsin Third Congressional District

Cost-effectiveness should be one of the goals of American health-care reform.
Without an emphasis on cost-effective care, the other goals of reform -- extending health insurance to virtually all Americans and improving the quality of care -- will be unaffordable .That's why the health-care reform that Congress is working on should follow up on an idea promoted by President Barack Obama and many medical experts: America can more effectively spend health-care dollars if patients and doctors are informed about which treatments offer the best results for the money and which fail to warrant the cost. Decisions are currently handicapped because no data base provides comprehensive information on the cost-effectiveness of treatments, leaving doctors and patients to use best guesses, often influenced by what's new, well promoted -- and costly.
As a result, Americans spend $700 billion annually on medical care that provides no value, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
The economic stimulus legislation passed this year supports cost-consciousness by including $1.1 billion for research on the comparative effectiveness of health treatments. A bill in the House of Representatives called the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., offers a good start on the next step.
The act would establish a nonprofit, non-government corporation to identify research priorities, provide for peer review, set up a methodology and distribute the findings. A board of 21 members, including representatives from patients and doctors groups, would oversee the corporation. The legislation confronts opposition from critics who fear that bureaucrats will end up deciding patient treatment based on numbers spit out by a computer. That's a reasonable concern that deserves debate. But Congress should not let opposition bring to a halt the effort to gather and distribute cost-effectiveness data. Concerns should be negotiated, and a plan should be adopted. If Americans cannot gain the information to get the biggest bang for their health-care bucks, the rising cost of medical care and health insurance will continue to consume a bigger share of every American's income. Neither the country nor its families can afford that result.