By Steve Issenman, Senior Vice President of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey
Bridgewater, NJ, May 22, 2010 — “We are at a significant point in our nation′s journey toward meaningful health care reform. Yesterday’s historic vote in the House will help expand health care coverage to tens of millions of Americans who are uninsured and who urgently need access to high-quality, affordable health care coverage.
“Throughout this long process, our top priority has been to achieve progress in overhauling our troubled health care system. We continue to believe that comprehensive health care reform, done in a way that creates incentives for innovation and which also promotes appropriate access to medicine and medical technology, can benefit patients. While this legislation is not perfect, it is a step in the right direction.
“We continue to have concerns about a number of components in the legislation including the broad powers of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which could enact sweeping changes to Medicare without Congressional, judicial or administrative oversight. The decisions by this advisory board could impact the future of medical innovation. We hope Congress will address these issues and take steps to support access to medicines and medical technologies without additional barriers to quality health care.
“As an industry, we are committed to doing our part and those commitments require a shared sacrifice by our member companies. There will be difficult choices ahead.
“As Congress moves health care reform legislation forward, the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) and its member companies will continue to play a constructive role in health care reform and remain committed to the essential goal of protecting our ability to discover new treatments and cures for the world′s most dreaded diseases, while simultaneously ensuring patient access to life-saving medicines and medical technologies.”