When the US Supreme Court’s ruling on the King v. Burwell challenge to the subsidy provision in the Affordable Care Act was announced last Thursday morning, the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) provided the following statement to the media:
“Broader health insurance coverage for the citizens of North Carolina has been the stated policy and goal of the North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) for the last 30 years. In the last five years, we have been pleased that more people have health insurance coverage protecting them in case of injury or illness, and hope this trend will continue unabated with the Supreme Court’s decision. As recent opinion polls show, the public agrees no working person should have to sacrifice food on the table for medical care.
“No legislation is perfect, especially one as far-reaching as the Affordable Care Act. We will strive to retain the positive aspects of the law and fix what is broken on behalf of our members and their patients. As the oldest and largest physician association in the state, today representing more than 12,500 physicians and physician assistants, we are committed to continuously improving our health care system’s quality, efficiency and patient service for the people of North Carolina.”
The quote was picked up by the Associated Press and WNCN-TV. Read the AP article, which appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times and the WNCN story.
As mentioned in the statement, the NCMS remains committed to fixing what is ‘broken’ in the Affordable Care Act, and keeping and improving those provisions that are working. Earlier this year Congress repealed Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula thanks in part to NCMS members’ diligent work over the years and pressure on their Congressional representatives at the ninth hour. The SGR repeal opens the door for positive and meaningful reform. Our staff continues to analyze what the new sweeping legislation – MACRA – means to you and your practice. Watch the Bulletin and the Quality Time with the NCMS webpage for updates.
We’re still working toward antitrust protections for physicians as well as a law to give physicians and senior citizens the ability to directly contract for any Medicare services. We’re also seeing some progress with the House passage last week of a bill to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board. We will continue to push to eliminate as many of the onerous regulations forcing physicians to spend time filling out forms instead of seeing patients.