Despite the addition of several initiatives U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley has supported being included in the health care reform bill introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Democrat remains disturbed that the bill does not include reform of federal reimbursement formulas.

“The bill does too little to address the broken Medicare reimbursement system,” Braley said today in a prepared statement. “This system penalizes doctors and hospitals in states like Iowa who consistently rank at the top in quality of care and at the bottom in Medicare reimbursement rates.”

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley

U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley

Last month Braley introduced the Medicare Payment Improvement Act with U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) to outline an alternative system based on quality and not quantity of services. In addition, he and other members of the Iowa delegation have reached out to other disaffected members of Congress to form an awareness campaign on the disparities caused by the existing reimbursement formulas.

“We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform our health care system and save billions of dollars by passing Medicare payments on the quality of care, not the quantity of services. This change needs to be a part of comprehensive health care reform, and I’m going to keep fighting for it,” Braley said.

The reform bill did include portions of Braley’s push for government documents to be developed with easy-to-understand language. The bill requires the Web site associated with health insurance to be written in plain language and also that all government and private insurers participating the system provide documents, claims, disclosures and other information in plain language.

The proposed legislation also includes a public health insurance option and a policy aimed at recruiting health care providers into underserved areas (including Iowa).