In Health Care Reform, We Don't Know What Works, But We know What Doesn't

In Health Care Reform, We Don't Know What Works, But We know What Doesn't

Coffee Brown,MD, University of New Mexico, for Talk Radio News Service


 
 "We just have to try some of these, knowing some of them will fail," Director Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, told Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND). Elmendorf reinforced Conrad's statement that healthcare costs will rise from 16 percent of the GDP to 20 percent if nothing is done. One dollar out of five would then go to healthcare in 2020, and the total Medicare-Medicaid burden would rise to 52 Trillion dollars over the next 75 years if nothing were done and if that money existed, according to both Conrad and Elmendorf. This would occur within the lifespans of most of the children who are alive now.
Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee, that none of the projections in the CBO's report on the costs of medical reform are certain, that some are much more speculative than others, and that there is simply  no way to know ahead of time which strategies will be most cost effective.
The most promising way to pay for some form of universal healthcare access,Elmendorf said, would be to completely or partially roll back tax credits for employer and personal health insurance premiums. "That saves the government money, but the cost is transferred to individuals," he said.
To achieve universal health coverage, it will be necessary to pool risks and to enforce and subsidize health insurance mandates, he said.
Medical insurance premiums increased by 78 percent during the same period,( 2003-2007) that wages increased 19 percent. So long as medical costs rise faster than wages, more of every dollar will go into medical care.
Chairman Conrad then pointed out that we pay almost twice as much, 8,300 dollars per person per year, as any other nation, yet we rank below 20th on international quality scales. Even within the U.S., he pointed out, the regions that spend the least tend to have the best outcomes. Clearly, he said, higher cost does not equal higher quality. To save healthcare, we need to put less, rather than more money into it, though he accepted that there may be transition costs.

The Economic Outlook and Budget Challenges

The U.S House Budget Committee held a full committee hearing on the economical outlook and budget challenges.

The discussion focused on the economical problems that are facing America today and the crucial issue of unemployment. The need to create more jobs was discussed and a solution that was presented favored lowering taxes on private business. This solution will could lead to an increase in employment.

A key point that was stressed involved investing in a long term economic strategy, to be able to increase the employment and create sustainable jobs.

Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, presented testimony regarding the state of the economy and issues in developing an effective policy response.
Elmendorf said that America must change its economical policies and make them more efficient to recover from the economical downturn it has suffered.

" The expected severity and persistence of economic weakness have led the great majority of economists to think that both large-scale fiscal stimulus and significant new financial and monetary policies are needed to generate a strong recovery in the next few years. Fiscal policies are most effective if they are timely, are cost effective and do not exacerbate the nation's long-run fiscal imbalance," Elmendorf stated.

He also referred to the difficulties in constructing a stimulus package that is economically effecient and statisfying the broader objectives. Policymakers want to know which people benefit from a policy and what society will receive in return.

Kevin Hasset, Senior Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, presented testimony that America's economy has been through bad times before and that the economy recoverd. Hasset also highlights the importance debt could have.

" We have not yet reached the point where skyrocketing debt levels have caused heightened concerns among investors in U.S. Treasuries. If this Committee wishes to avoid testing those waters, it should consider stimulus efforts with genuine steps toward run deficit reduction," Hasset stated.