A new national committee to investigate and improve Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program will include Denver Health Medical Center chief executive Patricia Gabow.
Gabow was among 17 people appointed by the U.S. Government Accountability Office to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, which will review access and payment policies within the government health programs.
The new commission is modeled after the federal committee that advises Congress on Medicare, the government health-insurance program for seniors. The Medicaid committee likely will advise lawmakers on health care reform because current legislation calls for substantial expansion of the Medicaid program, Gabow said.
Gabow, head of a hospital expected to spend $365 million in 2009 to care for the uninsured, said she is “optimistic” health care reform will pass.
“Health care didn’t get as messed up as it is in one year,” she said Tuesday. “The idea that we are going to fix everything that is wrong with our system in one year, in one bill, isn’t going to happen. But you have to start somewhere.” Jennifer Brown, The Denver Post
