Health Care For America Now

It's been said often, but given today's news, it deserves to be repeated. We can't do nothing about the health care crisis. We need to fix this problem and fix it now.

Overall spending on health care increased to 17 cents for every dollar spent in America last year, the largest one year increase since the government started keeping this record. For every dollar you make, almost one fifth of it goes to health care costs. And it's not stopping there, if health reform is not finished:

By 2019, health care spending will represent 19.3% of the nation's total economic output, according to a report released today by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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The rapid increase in health care spending as a percentage of the economy — up from 16.2% in 2008 to 17.3% last year — can be partly explained by the recession. Although the nation's gross domestic product declined in 2009, health care spending rose to an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2009, or $8,047 per person, according to the report. That number will grow to $4.5 trillion in 2019, or 19.3% of the GDP, which is the entire economic output of the USA.

The skyrocketing trajectory of health care spending is hardly new, but it still spells doom for individuals, employers, and government alike. Health care costs will take more and more out of our pockets, out of small businesses, and out of government to finance Medicare and Medicaid unless costs are brought under control.

The report on these increases, done by CMS, didn't take into account what would happen if health reform passes. The CBO has previously estimated that under health reform, premiums would go down for individuals and businesses, and the federal deficit would be reduced as well. An earlier report by CMS estimated that overall health care spending increases would slow under reform, adding further weight to the analysis.

The key to getting cost under control is getting everyone in the system and making health care affordable, so people can get the care they need. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine affirmed the cost-cutting potential of increased coverage:

When Medicare plans raise co-payments for outpatient care, older people cut back on doctors’ visits, then wind up needing more expensive hospital care, a new study reports.

The study examined changes in the use of inpatient and outpatient care among people in Medicare plans that almost doubled co-payments, and compared the trends with similar plans that kept co-payments steady.

Though outpatient visits increased over time in all plans, health plans that raised their co-pays had slower increases: 19.8 fewer outpatient visits per 100 enrollees compared with plans that kept prices steady.

But they also had 2.2 additional hospital admissions per year, 13.4 more annual inpatient days and a 0.7 percent increase in the number of enrollees who had been hospitalized, when compared with plans that did not raise prices.

The Senate bill needs to be fixed before health reform can be finished right. Things like dealing with the excise tax on middle class health benefits, asking employers to pitch in their fair share, increasing subsidies to low-income people, creating a national exchange, and a public option will make health care more affordable to individuals and expand coverage. Those people will get the care they need early, preventing more expensive emergency care later. Health care costs will go down as a result.

If our country is to avoid financial ruin, health reform needs to be finished and finished right. Spending 17 cents of every dollar on health care is crazy and clearly not sustainable.