Federal healthcare reform efforts have been largely focused on the insurance market. So, with the 2010 Legislative session, policy makers in the House – but particularly the Senate – are looking for ideas for meaningful reform of the healthcare delivery system.

So, got any? If you have some insights that you think would be worthy of the Legislature’s attention, let us know. Either email us or comment under this thread.

Michael Halasy recently wrote an editorial for the Journal of the Academy of Physician Assistants, arguing that the most important aspect of healthcare reform is controlling healthcare costs. He points out that healthcare expenditures are increasing far more rapidly than growth in GDP, with healthcare costs expected to rise 7.1 to 7.4% in 2009, comprising 17.6% of GDP. All of this with 47 million uninsured Americans:

The health care reform bills currently being considered by Congress do not fully address costs; more importantly, they do not address the annual increases in costs. They are focused more on the issue of expanding coverage. This is an admirable goal, but unless we find a way to control costs, expanding coverage will only make our situation worse.

Read the entire article here.

Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, a medical school professor, wrote an article for the Huffington post today, critiquing the arguments of those opposed to healthcare reform. He points out that there are legitimate reasons to oppose current legislation:

There are lots of legitimate reasons to dislike the current bills being considered as health care reform. For instance, the best of them considers universal coverage to mean that more than 12 million people are still left without health insurance. None of the bills do much to contain costs, meaning that health care costs may still rise faster than inflation and consume even more of our GDP. Too few people are likely to be able to access many of the benefits of reform, such as the insurance exchange. (more…)

I indicated a few days ago that Republicans have been extremely critical of the House healthcare bill, while not proposing an alternative solution. Well, today House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced that the Republicans will offer an alternative bill, aimed at increasing coverage while keeping the price tag and government oversight to a minimum. The Wall Street Journal has the story:

Mr. Boehner said Sunday the Republican bill would extend health-insurance coverage to “millions” of Americans but wouldn’t try to match the scope of the House Democratic bill unveiled last week. The Democratic legislation, if passed, is estimated to expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now without insurance. Its estimated gross cost is $1.055 trillion over 10 years.

“What we do is we try to make the current system work better,” Mr. Boehner, of Ohio, said on CNN’s “State of the Nation.” The GOP plan would likely be less costly to taxpayers and involve less government intrusion into the private sector. Mr. Boehner said the bill would take “a step-by-step approach” to expanding coverage.

As I discussed last week, passing healthcare reform is increasingly about next year’s midterm elections as much as it is about passing reform. During ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, former RNC chairman made the point that increasingly Democrats risk losing their substantial House majority.

“I know that they were willing to sacrifice 20 conservative Democrats or moderate Democrats to get this done. I think they risk losing the house if they try to pass this bill and they jam it through the way it’s written."