Health care could nab $100B payday

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17119.html

By CHRIS FRATES | 1/7/09 11:52 PM EST

The $775 billion economic stimulus plan being cobbled together by President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats could pump more than $100 billion into the health care sector, modernizing its delivery system and providing care to those who lost their health insurance along with their jobs, according to sources close to the planning.

The bulk of the money, about $80 billion, would go to state Medicaid programs that are expected to grow with rising unemployment. Officials worry that without a cash infusion, state lawmakers facing already strained budgets would be forced to cut the safety-net health care program just as the need swells.


The $775 billion economic stimulus plan could pump more than $100 billion into the health care sector.
Photo: AP

Roughly another $20 billion would be used as a down payment on Obama’s $50 billion campaign promise to update the nation’s antiquated health care delivery system. The streamlining effort is aimed at improving quality and saving money and could include digitizing patients’ medical records and pushing doctors to use e-prescribing.

Health spending in the developing economic stimulus package has been largely overshadowed by the public discussion over tax cuts and infrastructure improvements. But interviews with nearly a dozen Washington health care experts found the issue very much in play.

One of the keys to any stimulus plan is to spend the money quickly, and officials point to Medicaid as a prime opportunity to use an existing program to funnel more money into the sagging economy.


FULL story at link.