Healthcare reform has positives and negatives, say experts

The head of Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare told business leaders Wednesday that federal healthcare reform has both good and bad features.

Ed Epperson, president and CEO of CTRH, told the Northern Nevada Development Authority breakfast meeting the good includes expanding health coverage to more Americans.

"Thirty million more people will be covered by health insurance, which is a good thing," he said.

He said it also moves the nation toward a global payment system for providers.

"What it did not do is we did not get regulatory healthcare reform," he said. "And what it did not address is tort reform."

Epperson said tort reform is important because studies show nearly two-thirds of lumbar spine X-rays are done for legal defensive reasons and 55 percent of all tests are "defensive medicine."

He also told businessmen attending the meeting that major healthcare systems are declining to participate in parts of the law because the regulations implementing the law "just aren't what they should be."

"They're a mess," Epperson said.

"The public deserves an accountable system of health care," Epperson said. "The public deserves an affordable system of health care."

He said that is a serious issue in the U.S.

Valerie Clark of Clark & Associates, which puts together healthcare plans for businesses, said another positive in the law is mandating insurers provide dependent coverage through age 26. And contrary to initial concerns, he said providers are, "not finding that it's raising the cost of health insurance too much."

She said requiring coverage for preventative healthcare also is a positive along with implementing a claims appeals process.

"It's good for the insured," Clark said.

Rob Hooper, head of NNDA, said healthcare was the topic of Wednesday's monthly breakfast meeting because of it's importance in the local economy.

"Healthcare is the number one area for jobs right now," he said. "It's a fantastic growth opportunity for Nevada.

Hooper said Nevada should increase efforts to bring medical research, laboratories and other parts of the healthcare industry to the state.