09.30.09
Doing nothing on health insurance reform will cost us billions
Via State Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston), The Cost of Doing Nothing.
The failure of reform will hurt Americans’ pocketbooks and will crush state and local budgets. According to the study, the number of uninsured residents will increase if reform is not enacted. Additionally, the number of employers offering coverage will drop, out-of-pockets costs will skyrocket, and spending by states on public programs will drastically increase. These costs will likely be passed along to Texas businesses and taxpayers.Click hereto read the full report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation.
He also points us to this article from the HChron, Cost higher if health reform fails,study says.
A week after a Texas agency reported health care reform legislation would cost the state’s Medicaid program an extra $20 billion over the next 10 years, a non-partisan foundation says inaction will exact a greater price.
[...]
The study, which estimates how coverage and cost trends would change from now to 2019 if health care isn’t reformed, found out-of-pocket expenses could increase by more than 35 percent in every state. It found middle-class working families would be hardest hit.
According to the study, the effects in Texas within 10 years include:
• As many as 8.3 million residents would be uninsured, up from 6 million this year.
• The average resident’s health care spending would increase as much as 81 percent.
• Employers’ premiums would increase as much as 121 percent.
• Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program spending would increase as much as 117 percent.
• Uncompensated care would increase by as much as 138 percent.
It couldn’t be more clear that we need health insurance reform.
Amerloc said,
September 30, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Might be more interesting to look at health care reform rather than health insurance reform. I see no real reason an aloof executive should be able to buy a yacht out of “his share” of the money I spend to make sure a doctor will see me.
Ron Williams, the CEO at AEtna, received “$24,300,112 in total compensation for 2008, with more than half of that ($13,537,365) coming from option awards. He also received an additional $6,456,630 in stock awards to go along with his base salary of $1,091,764.
“Personal use of a corporate aircraft and vehicle, as well as financial planning and 401(k) company matches added up to $101,487 for Williams.”*
Even just looking at his base salary, $1,091,764, puts him in a bracket few of us can imagine.
* http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/special-reports/total-package-health-plan-ceo-compensations-2008
wcnews said,
October 1, 2009 at 9:09 am
I think health insurance reform has to come first. Once we get everyone “covered” then we can start looking at ways to fix health care.