Health Care Opinion Leaders Views on Medicare Reform

According to the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey, more than eight of 10 leaders in health care and health care policy believe Medicare has been successful at accomplishing two major goals—providing beneficiaries  with access to basic medical care and providing stable, predictable coverage over time. Several of the Medicare proposals being discussed in Congress as part of comprehensive reform legislation, including expanding the power of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to put payment pilots on a "fast track" and to work with other parties to implement multipayer payment initiatives, are supported by most opinion leaders. Respondents also voiced strong support for using Medicare’s leverage to negotiate pharmaceutical drug prices and creating an independent Medicare advisory council with authority to make payment and benefit design decisions within parameters established by Congress and the president.