Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2270819/posts
Wrong-Way Health Care ‘Reform’ Could Actually Increase Spending
IBD Editorials ^ | June 12, 2009 | ROBERT SAMUELSON
Posted on June 12, 2009 6:18:39 PM PDT by Kaslin
It’s hard to know whether President Obama’s health care “reform” is naive, hypocritical or simply dishonest. Probably all three.
The president keeps saying it’s imperative to control runaway health spending. He’s right. The trouble is that what’s being promoted as health care “reform” almost certainly won’t suppress spending and, quite probably, will do the opposite.
A new report from Obama’s own Council of Economic Advisers shows why controlling health costs is so important. Since 1975, annual health spending per person, adjusted for inflation, has grown 2.1 percentage points faster than overall economic growth per person. Should this trend continue, the CEA projects that:
Health spending, which was 5% of gross domestic product in 1960 and is reckoned at almost 18% today, would grow to 34% of GDP by 2040 — a third of the economy.
Medicare and Medicaid, the government insurance programs for the elderly and poor, would increase from 6% of GDP now to 15% in 2040 — roughly equal to three-quarters of present federal spending.
Too Much Medicine
Employer-paid insurance premiums for family coverage, which grew 85% in inflation-adjusted terms from 1996 to $11,941 in 2006, would increase to $25,200 by 2025 and $45,000 in 2040 (all figures in “constant 2008 dollars”). The huge costs would force employers to reduce take-home pay.
The message in these dismal figures is that uncontrolled health spending is almost single-handedly determining national priorities. It’s reducing discretionary income, raising taxes, widening budget deficits and squeezing other government programs.
Worse, much medical spending is wasted, the CEA report says. It doesn’t improve Americans’ health; some care is unneeded or ineffective.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2269341/posts
AMA to oppose Obama’s health care reform
Examiner.com ^ | 6-10-2009 | Dianna Cotter
Posted on June 10, 2009 11:21:35 PM PDT by Danae
...concerns have been raised about the course the President has thus far chosen to reveal. Robert Pear for the New York Times reports that the AMA will oppose a government sponsored insurance plan that Mr. Obama’s plan is thus far espousing. The opposition of the AMA could well be an insurmountable hurdle to the Obama Administration’s plans for Socialized Health Care.
The Times goes further:
“But in comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, the American Medical Association said: “The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.”
If private insurers are pushed out of the market, the group said, “the corresponding surge in public plan participation would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.””
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...