American Society of Plastic Surgeons Calls for Congress to Improve American Health Care

Arlington Heights, IL – The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is calling on the United States House of Representatives to do more to improve the current state of health care and conduct a more thorough and deliberative review of legislative options than has played out so far.

"Without question, there is a long way to go before the American health system fully meets the needs of patients," said ASPS President Debra Johnson, MD. "The legislation introduced this week and marked-up by key House committees has some elements that will bring us closer to meeting that promise. Ultimately, though, it needs to go much further."

"Our patients deserve better access to care through affordable coverage," Johnson continued. "The American people should have the time to deliberate the merits and drawbacks of the American Health Care Act with an independent Congressional Budget Office analysis of its cost and impact on insurance coverage in place."

On March 2, 2017, the ASPS Executive Committee approved ASPS Principles for Health Care Reform, which outlines the Society's priorities for improving care for its members' patients. These principles focus on providing access to high-quality care from the appropriate provider; strengthening the physician/patient relationship by stripping away regulatory box-checking that gets in the way of patient care; and improving the independent private practice environment through medical liability reform, preventing draconian cuts by repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and restructuring federal quality and delivery reform efforts so they work better for specialty providers.

"ASPS has identified areas that must be addressed in order to fulfill the potential of the American health system. We believe in these principles, and we are confident legislation that satisfies them will create a dramatic improvement over the status quo. Congress needs to adhere to these principles as it continues its health care reform effort," Johnson said.