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Obama Says Healthcare Overhaul Could Save Trillions
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will aim on Monday to build support for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting a drive for greater efficiency he predicts could save trillions of dollars.
A driver helps a man in a wheelchair out of a cab outside San Francisco General Hospital. President Barack Obama is Monday to outline plans to cut US healthcare costs by two trillion dollars over the next 10 years, part of a bid to slash spending while making treatment more affordable. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan) Obama has invited several large trade groups, such as the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans and the American Hospital Association, to an event to discuss ways to wring cost savings from the health system.
At a 12:30 p.m. EDT event, the trade groups will present Obama a letter pledging to reduce the growth of health spending by 1.5 percentage points annually through more efficient practices, according to White House officials who briefed reporters on the event.
The cost savings would be achieved through steps such as streamlining paperwork and changing the way hospitals deliver and bill for services to patients.
Obama aides said that given the explosion in healthcare costs projected to take place in coming years as the U.S. population ages, the slower growth rate for health care would save $2 trillion over 10 years.
"We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control, because reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait," Obama will say, according to excerpts.
"That is why these groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment," he will say.
"Over the next ten years -- from 2010 to 2019 -- they are pledging to cut the growth rate of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year -- an amount that's equal to over $2 trillion."
MILLIONS OF UNINSURED
Revamping the healthcare system and expanding coverage for an estimated 46 million uninsured Americans is one of Obama's top domestic priorities. He is pushing his allies in the Democratic-led Congress to pass an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion healthcare industry by the end of the year.
There is broad agreement within the industry and among lawmakers that the health system needs to be improved but big differences of opinion exist on how to go about it.
A centerpiece of Obama's health proposal would be a new government health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. The administration says the public plan would help cut costs by introducing competition and cover the uninsured.
Republicans and insurers oppose a government plan, arguing that it would undermine the private healthcare market.
By focusing on delivering more efficient care, Obama is weighing in on one of the least controversial aspects of his healthcare proposal rather than the much more heated topic of whether to establish a new public insurance plan.
A more efficient healthcare system would save the government money by reducing spending on the huge Medicare system, an existing program for older Americans.
The United States has one of the world's most expensive healthcare systems, despite the high numbers of uninsured Americans. Studies show the country lags other developed nations on indicators of healthcare quality, including life expectancy and infant mortality.
Obama's effort to cast the health care proposal as a money-saving initiative comes as critics label his hefty domestic agenda fiscally irresponsible. But Obama counters that high budget deficits are a legacy of President George W. Bush, a Republican.
Some of the streamlining ideas to be highlighted at the White House event on Monday would require legislation.
Lawmakers are already considering some of moves to improve patient care and bring down costs by basing payments to doctors and hospitals on the quality of care given, not just the number of procedures and treatments.
Health-policy experts say big savings could be achieved in healthcare by cutting down on unnecessary treatments.
(Additional reporting by Doug Palmer, reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Chris Wilson)
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21 Comments so far
Show AllThe real debaters went to jail! Silenced! (for the most part)
I smell a rat! The AMA and Hospital Asso. & American Heath Insurance Plans; come together voluntarily? WoW! Like they are doing it for FREE?
They came together to seal their deal!
Rescinding the 2003 medicare pharma extortion legislation that prohibits the US Gov. from negotiating drug prices is the first step that needs to be taken or there is NO HOPE for any meaningful cost control.
Nobody in the Obama Regime, Congress or industry has ever mentioned this legislation as a major part of the problem or a part of the solution.
A few AARP memebers cancelled their membership when AARP pushed this legislation through...more AARP members need to cancel theirs.
"Nobody in the Obama Regime, Congress or industry has ever mentioned this legislation as a major part of the problem or a part of the solution."
It's not that nobody mentioned getting rid of the Medicare Advantage plans (if that's what you're referring to)--they did get mentioned by Obama people back in February. (see link below)
And the idea of getting rid of it was quietly buried.
And that's what will happen to the "public option" plan when it goes into "competition" with the for-profit sector.
It will get quietly buried.
...
"While billed as a health care reform project, the bulk of the details on the health plan concern Medicare: who is going to pay for it, how it is going to be restructured. There are three key components. The first is changing the bidding process on Medicare Advantage plans, which the Administration estimates will generate 175 Billion dollars over 10 years."
http://firedoglake.com/2009/02/25/obama-shows-us-the-money-on-medicare-and-health-care/
Hang on to your wallet when these boys start telling you how much money they are going to save by doing it their way.
From the article:
"Health-policy experts say big savings could be achieved in healthcare by cutting down on unnecessary treatments."
Having worked in the health-care field, plus being responsible for the premium for a small-group plan, I now consider myself as much an expert as any of the corporate mendicants now hogging the microphone---but without their shameless self-interest.
According to THIS expert, eliminating unnecessary and unearned profit from the system would save a lot more: hundreds of billions of dollars annually, plus tens of thousands of lives.
Experts usually come in the form of CONsulatnts or CONtractors. Either way, they are just CONS promoting the corporate agenda.
Most of these "experts" are really public relations experts, not health care experts.
The real experts like Jethro will never be corporate hired guns.
As I recall the entire purpose of the HMOS was to streamline costs. Instead it became another layer OFF costs that have nothing to do with actual health care.
These new "efficiencies" sound to me much like the "efficiencies" gained by the Pentagon when it started outsourcing stuff the military used to do to private contracters.
It will grow into another monster.
I sir, am with you. Single payer was and is the only real solution.
HMOs were designed to grease the money machine, not the health care machine.
"...the trade groups will present Obama a letter pledging to reduce the growth of health spending by 1.5 percentage points annually through more efficient practices,..."
As I write, NPR is confirming this figure and quoting Obama. The Reuters article is virtually meaningless absent context. This is PR bullshit. If health care costs are going up, say, 10 percent a year, what does it mean to trim that 10 percent increase by 1.5 percent? Big f**king deal.
We need a single-payer system, coverage for all, and a relentless campaign against the flotsam of the "insurance industry."
-30-
I heard that program on NPR this morning. The CALLERS to the show made more sense than the so-called experts. Health care reform, my ass.
The Obama Regime, Congress, corporations and their CONsulants and CONtractors keep telling us that Americans don't want single-payer. Every legitimate poll conducted shows that the majority of American taxpayers want single-payer.
All of you need to keep phoning, emailing or writing to your elected officials demanding single-payer health care, and making it clear that in the next election your vote will not go to anybody who does not support it.
I taught my kids that anytime a business tells you they will give you whatever % off, run the other direction. Unless they are tying that reduction to a base price, it is meaningless since they control the base price.
This trifling little puff piece is a waste of time.
It accentuates the positive, while venturing only the slightest discreet hint that yes, there IS a single-payer elephant somewhere in the room.
Instead, we are treated to an upbeat review of Obama following closely in Reagan's footsteps: touting "reform" through voluntary corporate concessions rather than government regulation and law.
It's the Free Market at work again, dontcha SEE? Why, naturally the insurance corporations would like nothing BETTER than to transform themselves into a source of universal health care! If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
It's a win-win outcome!
Excuse me, I need some health care for biliousness at the moment...
· Yr Obd't Servant
Right on, Servant. Obama's plan is to criminalize the uninsured.
I don't understand why this is big news. Think about it, corporations announcing they are going to save money by being efficient? Isn't that the point of capitalism? Are they meaning to tell us that they need the threat of a Democratic congress passing a reform bill they do not like in order to do what capitalism in theory says they should already be doing? This is surreal. It explains what Paul Krugman, who was warm to this announcement, may have been discussing behind closed doors with Obama. He obviously told Obama he wouldn't be too negative about this ridiculous announcement. But why? This is depressing.
How could Krugman keep from laughing at the concept of blessing corporate control of prices as a cost-saving measure?
Maybe dinner with Obama froze his funnybone.
· Yr Obd't Servant
"Maybe dinner with Obama froze his funnybone."
Krugman does tend to get mealy-mouthed.
Krugman is a capitalist. An adult one, to be sure, but that's what he is. In the end, enterprise uber alles if push comes to shove. Guys, the clock's ticking. We gotta start moving soon while there's still some outrage to tap.
Kiss the public plan goodbye, and FORGET about single-payer. If this move is anything, it's a signal in the opposite direction. Not going to happen
This administration is more twisted as the previous one because they are sociopathic.
What this "big savings" plan means is the insurance companies will increase premiums by say, 5.5% per year instead of 7%. That's their generous plan, because they are such good Americans.
Now, get on your knees and give thanks. The Master plans to simply bleed us at a slower pace. Pied Piper Obama is thrilled so everyone nod your head in agreement and follow along.
Bastards!
Politicians help the people at risk of losing the corporate support they need to get re-elected. This amounts to over 95% of all their campaign "contributions".
Railing against Senators and Presidents can make us feel a little better, but it does little to change their votes in people's favor instead of their large plutocrat "contributors". Why is Rahm Emmanuel, the consumate fund raiser, Obama's Chief of Staff?
The oligarchy has us by the balls. They won't publish our demonstrations and their MSM controls public opinion. It is the other opiate of the masses.
Depending on some politician to save us is futile. Besides, why should any politician listen to a cheap mob that constantly insults him instead of to an oligarchy that lavishly rewards his treachery?
We can vent our frustrations on CD. Some on the right are eager to lead the chorus. But until we get the referendum, We the People are effectively neutralized.