Economic Impacts

The cost of health insurance premiums negatively impacts individual families, businesses, unions, and all levels of government.

From Rx for Reform

An Insurance Policy for Health Care Reform

NCHC Action Fund President and CEO, Ralph G. Neas, calls for an insurance policy for health care reform.

Noting that last spring, leaders of the health care industry, including representatives from PhARMA, America's Health Insurance Plans, the American Medical Association and American Hospital Association, met with President Obama and pledged to him and the American people that they would decrease the annual rate of cost increases by 1.5 percentage points to save $2 trillion or more over the next decade. Neas said the commitment that industry leaders made to the President and the American public "should be more than a photo op, press statement and promise." Citing Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus' piece about legislative cost containment efforts and needing a fail-safe mechanism to ensure that the rate of health care inflation is slowed, Neas urged that industry pledges to the President and the American people to control the growth of national health expenditures be codified and made enforceable as part of health reform.

"Only enactment of a "failsafe" amendment will provide the American people with an insurance policy that health care reform will lower premiums and make quality care and coverage affordable for all," he said.

Containing Costs and Avoiding Tax Increases While Improving Quality: Affordable Coverage and High Value Care

The National Coalition on Health Care's recommendations, based upon the consensus view of 85 member organizations, to make the system less complex, reduce overly high prices, and create a truly competitive health care marketplace. The goal of the paper is to augment the NCHC Principles and Specifications with a more detailed and selective set of policy recommendations on cost containment and quality improvement.

From Facts & Research

Administration Invites Congressional Leaders to Bipartisan Health Care Summit

The following letter, directed to the House and Senate Leadership, requests their attendance at a health care summit, to be held on February 25th. The purpose of this summit, according to the letter, is bring the parties together to “act on behalf of the millions of Americans and small businesses who are counting on meaningful health insurance reform.”

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Coverage, Delivery System Reforms, Disparities, Drug and Device Cost Containment, Economic Impacts, Financing, Health IT, Innovation, Insurance, Policy Implementation, Prevention & Wellness, Quality & Safety, Simplified Administration, Trends, Vulnerable Populations, Workforce Reforms / Human Capital

Democratic Congressional Leaders Asked to Ensure Bipartisan Process

Issue Area(s):

National Health Expenditures Jumped 5.7 Percent Last Year

Last year despite the recession, national health care spending hit $2.5 trillion, a 5.7 percent jump from 2008, according to projections by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Increased health spending and decreased GDP combined to increase health care's share of the economy by 1.1 percent – the biggest one-year jump since the government began tracking the numbers in 1960. According to CMS economists writing in the journal, Health Affairs. Health expenditures are estimated to have consumed 17.3 percent of GDP last year. As growing unemployment caused forced more people to rely on Medicaid, public spending grew to 8.7 percent, or $1.2 trillion. At the same time private payers increases totaling $1.3 trillion, a 3 percent increase. Health costs now equal 17 percent of the nation’s economy. READ THE HEALTH AFFAIRS ARTICLE:

Issue Area(s):

Cost, Economic Impacts, Financing, Trends

Issue Areas

Current efforts to increase medical school enrollment are projected to at best result in a U.S. workforce shortfall of 71,000 physicians by 2025.