TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | d e c 2 0 1 7 /ja n 2 0 1 8 33 Named a national Best Hospital in psychiatry 28 consecutive years We now have 2 locations with Outpatient Services to serve your mental health care needs. BELLAIRE—6565 West Loop South—Call 844-574-7465. Group therapy Psychological testing Screening for addictions Intensive outpatient services MAIN CAMPUS—12301 S. Main Street—Call 713-275-5140. 4½-day comprehensive assessments Autism assessments Medication management Genetic testing Brain stimulation treatments Treatments for trauma Both locations provide therapy for individuals, couples and families, including crisis counseling. MenningerClinic.com | Affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine & member in the Texas Medical Center Offering more outpatient services for your mental health needs Menninger Best Hospital ad for Nov TMC Pulse 10-2017.indd 1 10/4/2017 11:26:58 AM Accordingly, I wish that 2018 brings our female veterans the validation they deserve—the recognition of this gross mistreatment and abuse in the military." A RT H U R " T I M " GA R SON J R . , M . D. , M PH Director of the Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute "In 2018, I hope our policymakers give health care providers, insurers, and— most importantly—consumers, more confidence and more stability in their health care. One way they can do that is by passing bipartisan legislation, introduced by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Their bill would restore subsidies that help lower deductibles for people with low incomes. The legislation was pro- posed after the Trump administration announced it would end those subsi- dies, called "cost sharing reductions," in October. If Alexander-Murray passes, states would also have the option to get waivers that allow them to experiment with their insurance markets. The good news: States could experiment with "catastrophic" plans that have low deductibles and cover accidents, serious illness and pregnancy. Such plans would be attractive to many people. The bad news: If states overdo it, they may permit skimpy plans that cheat people. Consumer Reports said that these plans (often called "associ- ation" health plans) were "so riddled with loopholes, limits, exclusions and gotchas that [patients] won't come close to covering their expenses if they fall seriously ill." Alexander-Murray—or any other proposal that realistically has a chance of becoming law in 2018—will only be able to address health care at the edges. Lawmakers don't like making dramatic policy changes in election years. Maybe that's not a bad thing at the moment. Congress's last attempt at health care reform would have robbed more than 20 million people of health insurance. We need reasoned debate on how all Americans can have affordable health care; the only way to get there is to reduce the cost of health care. That is not a quick, back-room event. In 2018, let's get the subsidies back for now, provide some stability to the insurance markets, and get through the mid-term elections. Then we can spend time and energy fixing our broken health care system."

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