AAN News

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During his campaign and since taking office, President Barack Obama has made it clear that he wants major healthcare reform to happen as soon as possible. Learning from the 1990's healthcare reform debate, his team made the early decision that the White House would promote broad principles, not specific legislation. President Obama has, however, put the challenge to Congressional leaders to get the job done. And the Congressional leaders have taken up his challenge through direct action, unleashing years of pent-up energy to make healthcare reform a reality.

I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.

—President Barack Obama, February 24, 2009.

President Obama has also connected the issue of comprehensive reform to economic recovery. Business is more engaged then ever. “At the same time businesses are struggling to avoid layoffs, pay cuts and benefit reductions, employee health care costs are skyrocketing. Without an investment in health reform, employers may be forced to reduce or eliminate benefits or be driven out of business because of the inability to compete,” states Anthony Wisniewski, Executive Director of Health Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Congress, 2009 Almanac of Chronic Disease. As the saying goes, the devil is always in the details, but this statement is very encouraging.

The President's emphasis on choices of plans for consumers is resonating well with a variety of audiences. While there may be compromise in the offing on the public plan option, it is the commitment to making sure that cultural and economic disparities are dealt with in a fair way that will succeed in the end. The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) has a long history in raising this fairness issue alongside many nursing and health professional colleagues.

Most importantly to nursing leaders who have been perplexed these many years questioning how a diverse democratic nation such as ours would not offer health care to all of its people, is the fact that President Obama's ideas go beyond expanding coverage. He is also promoting new ideas to improve the delivery of care as his team seeks to get a handle on controlling the cost of health care by using smart technology, interprofessional teams, and consumer engagement. These are essential to really transforming our healthcare system.

The AAN has engaged on the frontlines of this debate in a variety of ways. We have attended White House invitational stakeholder meetings, prepared testimony, and initiated and participated in press events to let President Obama know he has our support. The AAN's signature campaign Raise the Voice, which is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has given us the tools to showcase practical innovations led by nurses that could be solutions that produce better outcomes for patients and reduce costs to the healthcare system.

I am pleased to report we are being heard. There is a real chance that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid will be directed by Congress to seriously consider a Medicare transitional care benefit that will cover nurse-led innovations that include an evidence-based team approach to care for the frail elderly with multiple chronic diseases.

The AAN has many external partners in these efforts to bring about real change in the organization of healthcare delivery. These partners understand the importance of including nursing leaders in discussions about how to reform our system. These leaders include the Honorable Donna Shalala (the Chair of the Raise the Voice Advisory Council) to major companies such as Verizon and Intel, to consumer groups such as AARP and the National Consumer's League.

For true healthcare reform to happen, we must work together in a collaborative and bipartisan way. I encourage you to make your voice heard. Share your ideas and thoughts with us. Identify more nurse-led innovations with evidence-based results. Participate in local healthcare reform forums and let them know you are an AAN leader. Post a comment on the White House's blog (www.whitehouse.gov/blog/) or send a letter to the editor of your local paper in support of comprehensive reform. Attend the AAN's Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Give to the AAN annual fund. And please check out the AAN's Web site (www.aannet.org) on a regular basis for up-to-date information on how the Academy is making a difference in healthcare policy.

I leave you with this final thought from one of my political heroes, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan from Texas: “What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise.”