Thanks to Ann Bittinger, of the Bittinger Law Firm, for this summary of highlights of today's session at the American Health Lawyers Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.   

"Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, addressed the attendees this morning.  I wanted to share with you key points from her address, for informational purposes only.  No political message, in support or opposition, is intended.  

Calling for urgent change, Secretary Sebelius said "the status quo is not only unsustainable and unacceptable, it is unconscionable."  She said she expects that Congress will pass healthcare reform before its mid-August recess.  The bill would then go through conferencing committees between the two houses to reconcile differences in each house's bills, and would be on the President's desk, ready for signature, in early October.  "This is a very aggressive schedule," she said.

She said the main principles of reform are:

* "Costs have to come down. We have to address the cost curve."
* "Every American needs, at the end of the day, to have access to
coverage."
* She said we need to build on the current system and need to
strengthen employer-sponsored health insurance. She said the
administration does not support taxing employer health benefits because
it will "destabilize the private sector."
* "Significant changes in private health insurance" are needed,
she said.
* Pre-existing condition exclusions will have to be eliminated.
* A public insurance option must be available for individuals,
self-employed and small business owners, Sebelius said. She said that
she knows from her days as insurance commissioner that the
government-sponsored insurance must be priced so as not to skew the
market place.
* Erratic quality must be addressed, she said.

"The process is messy," she said.  She assured the lawyers that Congress is very much involved in learning how the health care system works.  An "unprecedented amount of education" is occurring on Capitol Hill, she said.  She said that President Obama does not want his healthcare reform plan to mirror the failed plan that the Clinton Administration wrote without Congressional teamwork:  "They (legislators) did not own it;
they didn't write it, and they didn't vote for it." 

Sebelius also updated the lawyers on the administration's preparation for a possible H1N1 flu pandemic.  She said the administration is partaking in "massive surveillance" to monitor the flu's outbreak in the
Southern Hemisphere, currently, as the strain is mixing with the seasonal flu.  She said the flu is targeting younger people, but it is not nearly as lethal as initially thought when it first hit Mexico.  

The Secretary said there are 1 million H1N1 cases in the United States currently.  She said preparation is underway should a massive vaccination effort be needed.  She said that because the flu seems to
target young people, a massive cooperation with schools to disseminate a vaccination may be in the future.     

She suggested that practitioners and hospitals prepare for a surge in hospital admissions and doctor's appointments and to be ready when the "worried well" show up at the hospital emergency department."