WHITEHOUSE & GINGRICH: Next president must put health in health care

On the other hand, we pay doctors more the sicker their patients are, more for each additional service they deliver and more for each additional test they perform.

There is no magic here: We simply need to pay more for what we want more of, and less for what we want less of. These priorities are absolutely essential. We will never cover the uninsured or resolve the looming budgetary nightmare without them.

That is why lawmakers from both parties must focus on health-based health reform next year. The American people deserve nothing less.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation. Sheldon Whitehouse is a Democratic senator from Rhode Island.