Volume XXVl, No. 12
March 2013
The Independent Medical Business Newspaper
American Tax Relief Act of 2012 Putting a patch on health care reform By Timothy Johnson, JD, and Greg Larson, JD
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Big-picture patient care An expanded role for physicians By Peter Mills, MD
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ealth care reform is happening at an increasingly rapid pace, and whatever your thoughts on the pros and cons of health care reform, one central fact is undeniable: As a nation, we cannot afford the inexorable rise in health-care delivery costs that we have seen over the past two decades. A recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation highlights the fact that
in 1991 we spent a little over 12 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health care; in 2011 this figure was 18 percent. Over the same period, the GDP of the United States almost tripled, so in real terms we’re spending almost four times as much on the delivery of health care today as we were 20 years ago. It doesn’t take an economist to work out that the current health care system must change; the alternative is literally a bankrupt nation. Yet, it is easy to understand why some physicians are unhappy with the way change is unfolding. The health reforms of the Patient BIG PICTURE to page 10
ost Americans are aware that when President Obama signed the American Tax Relief Act (ATRA) on Jan. 1, 2013, the United States was able to avoid, at least temporarily, the “fiscal cliff” disaster that would have resulted from a combination of significant individual and business income-tax rate increases and spending reductions. However, many people are not aware that ATRA also made numerous changes to federal programs, including extensions and modifications to energy tax credits, various agricultural and unemployment programs, and, most significantly, health care programs. Twenty-nine sections of ATRA’s Title VI address changes to Medicare and other government health programs, functioning as a kind of software patch to the Patient ProtecSPECIAL FOCUS: tion and Affordable GENETICS/ Care Act (ACA), deliverGENOMICS ing, in essence, “bug fixes and various other Page 20 improvements.” TAX RELIEF to page 12