Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

Reuters
November 6, 2009

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
American Association of Neurological Surgeons(AANS) and Congress of Neurological
Surgeons (CNS) announced their opposition to H.R. 3962, the "Affordable
Healthcare for America Act," currently under consideration by the House of
Representatives. 

"Sadly, in the ongoing healthcare reform debate, the more things change, the
more they stay the same. We could not support H.R. 3200, the `America`s
Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,` which was introduced in the House last
July and unfortunately, we must now oppose this new House bill too. It contains
no significant changes or improvements when it comes to the issues we believe
are vital for true healthcare reform in this country," comments Troy M. Tippett,
MD, President of the AANS. 

Gerald E. Rodts, MD, President of the CNS, further explains, "Once again, we
have a bill that goes way beyond what is necessary to fix what is actually
broken with our healthcare system. We cannot stress enough that instead of a
huge `adjust everything` approach, the proper path for lawmakers is to pursue a
carefully targeted set of reforms." 

Specifically, in this legislation, the AANS and CNS are concerned that:

* Ultimately, the public health insurance option will lead to a single-payer,
government-run healthcare system; 
* Due to its high price-tag, the health system envisioned is unsustainable; 
* Under the public health insurance option, the government is empowered to
implement rules that could restrict patients` choice of physician and limit
timely access to quality specialty care; 
* The bill fails to recognize the looming workforce shortages in surgery by
requiring that all unused medical residency training slots be allocated to
primary care and placing the emphasis on national workforce policy on primary
care, to the exclusion of surgical and other specialty care; 
* The bill inappropriately expands the government`s involvement in determining
the quality of medical care and residency training programs; 
* The bill permits the government to arbitrarily reduce reimbursement for
valuable, life-saving specialty care for elderly patients, threatening treatment
options; 
* Patient-centered healthcare may be threatened by provisions related to
comparative effectiveness research, changes to office-based imaging and
curtailing the development of physician-owned specialty hospitals; and 
* The bill potentially stifles medical innovation and valuable continuing
medical education programs.

Furthermore, this House bill fails to include provenmedical liability reforms.
Dr. Tippett states, "Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget
Office(CBO) released its findings, which confirm that medical liability reform
does indeed reduce the use of healthcare services and will save the system
money, about $54 billion over ten years. Congress needs to take action to end
the practice of defensive medicine and eliminate frivolous lawsuits." 

Dr. Rodts adds, "Overall, we believe this legislation will ultimately limit
patient choice by putting the government between the doctor and the patient,
which will interfere with vital patient care decisions. As it stands, this House
bill could amount to a complete government takeover of healthcare." 

To learn more, read the article "A Candid Conversation with AANS President Dr.
Troy Tippett." For more information on the position of AANS and CNS on
healthcare reform issues, visit:
http://www.aans.org/legislative/aans/Neuro_HealthCareReform.aspor
http://www.cns.org/advocacy/wc/nsHealthcareReform.aspx. 

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), founded in 1931, and
the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), founded in 1951, are the two
largest scientific and educational associations for neurosurgical professionals
in the world. These groups represent approximately 7,600 neurosurgeons
worldwide. Neurological surgery is the medical specialty concerned with the
prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the
entire nervous system, including the spinal column, spinal cord, brain and
peripheral nerves. For more information, please visit www.aans.org or
www.cns.org.

For American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological
Surgeons
Susanne Hartman, 202-446-2028
shartman@neurosurgery.org