http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2008/cost_doing_nothing_health_care_9216President-elect Barack Obama and his new health reform chief Tom Daschle made clear on Thursday that even amid tremendous economic crisis, their New New Deal would take on that persistent piece of unfinished business from the Old New Deal -- health care.
"Some may ask how at this moment of economic challenge we can afford to invest in reforming our health care system," Obama said. "And I ask a different question. I ask how can we afford not to."
A recent report by the New America Foundation's health policy program estimates that the cost of doing nothing about health care, including poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured, is well above $200 billion a year, and rising. That's enough to cover the uninsured and still have some left over for other public health needs.
Health insurance inflation will continue to outpace wages; the average cost of an employer-sponsored insurance plan for a family would reach $24,000 in 2016, an 84 percent increase from today. At least half of U.S households would need to spend more than 45 percent of their income to pay for insurance -- while the coverage itself would be sparser. Health costs would further undermine the ability of U.S. manufacturers to compete internationally, threaten the stability of U.S. jobs, and deepen the burden on local, state, and federal budgets
Activists and advocates might focus on access, outcomes and equity. But "what's really moved health care to the forefront is costs," said Drew E. Altman, president and CEO of the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, summing up months of Kaiser public opinion research. "It's an economic issue. The combination of health care costs on working people with other economic burdens -- mortgage, rent, fuel -- are just devastating
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