Congress has returned from its August recess with a full plate of must-pass legislation – hurricane disaster relief, the debt ceiling, annual appropriations to keep the government running. In the midst of these pressing issues, the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program may seem like an afterthought. Indeed, after the highly contentious debate this summer over whether to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, there may be a considerable amount of "healthcare fatigue" on Capitol Hill. Both sides made their arguments, fought for their positions, and then retired to their corners awaiting the next round.
However, before we return to the debate over healthcare, we should determine whether we are ready to elevate the discussion from name-calling to facts. I would argue it is a debate we're not yet ready to have. It's not for a lack of emotional maturity; it's because we don't yet have the facts.
As the CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, I spend my time advocating for 60 "safety net health plans" that deliver Medicaid managed care, CHIP, Medicare Advantage, and Marketplaces to more than 20 million Americans. I believe that the Right is truly concerned with patient outcomes. And there is work we can do, together, that falls outside of ideological lines.
Currently, there is no standard way to measure and report quality for Medicaid and CHIP. States and territories partner with the federal government to deliver healthcare through Medicaid and CHIP to more than 74 million Americans, but there is no comprehensive way to assess the quality of care in Medicaid and CHIP across all healthcare delivery systems. While most managed care plans routinely collect and report quality data, there is little such reporting in ‘fee-for-service' Medicaid.
This means that policymakers in Congress and the Administration have an incomplete picture of the quality of Medicaid and CHIP — and thus how effectively taxpayers' money is spent. That is why we need a standardized measure of healthcare data, so we can come up with an "apples to apples" comparison of healthcare outcomes across all of the U.S.