Editorial, Opinion Piece Respond to Health Care Reform Issues

President Obama is "right to push for [health care] reform now, despite calls to postpone efforts solely on the economic recovery," a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial states. According to the editorial, cost-cutting initiatives proposed by industry groups earlier this week "may not amount to anything" because they are voluntary and "providers' past efforts at containing costs have failed every time." However, the groups' vow to reduce future health care spending by $2 trillion "shows how much fat and waste is in the system," according to the Inquirer. The editorial also states that the "most assured means of tamping down costs while providing greater access to health coverage could be through" a government-run public health insurance option. In addition, Obama "needs to warm to the idea of requiring that all Americans obtain health insurance," in order to spread out the cost of care, the editorial continues. The editorial concludes that "it's encouraging that Obama doesn't plan to let a couple of wars and a recession sidetrack him from his pledge to reform health care and expand coverage to all Americans" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/14).

Opinion Piece
Although biomedical "innovation" might be "written out of the script" in the debate over health care reform, "without new, more effective medicines -- along with new devices and diagnostic tools, and better treatments and surgical techniques -- it will be impossible for larger numbers of Americans to obtain better health care at a manageable cost," Eli Lilly Chair and CEO John Lechleiter writes in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Lechleiter continues that it is "vital to all of us that we insist that reform proposals pass the 'innovation test.'" He continues, "Providing insurance to millions of Americans would fail that test," but "innovation would remain reasonably secure if universal access were achieved through tax credits and government subsidies." He also states, "Curtailing health care costs by allowing the federal government to dictate prices for branded medicines also would fail the test" and allow the creation of "laws that could weaken the enforcement of patents on biotechnology products." According to Lechleiter, the Pathways to Biosimilars Act (HR 1548) "strikes the right balance between innovation and competition," by "giving innovators the time needed to recoup their research investments while defining a clear framework for legal copying of biotech products down the road." Lechleiter concludes, "Our legislators in Washington still have the power to keep innovation in the health care reform script. Not doing so would be a true American tragedy" (Lechleiter, Wall Street Journal, 5/14).