The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care

[babylonsister]

The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care
By REED ABELSON
Published: February 26, 2010


“Hands off my health care,” goes one strain of populist sentiment.

But what if?

Suppose Congress and President Obama fail to overhaul the system now, or just tinker around the edges, or start over, as the Republicans propose — despite the Democrats’ latest and possibly last big push that began last week at a marathon televised forum in Washington.

Then “my health care” stays the same, right?

Far from it, health policy analysts and economists of nearly every ideological persuasion agree. The unrelenting rise in medical costs is likely to wreak havoc within the system and beyond it, and pretty much everyone will be affected, directly or indirectly.

“People think if we do nothing, we will have what we have now,” said Karen Davis, the president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research group in New York. “In fact, what we will have is a substantial deterioration in what we have.”

Nearly every mainstream analysis calls for medical costs to continue to climb over the next decade, outpacing the growth in the overall economy and certainly increasing faster than the average paycheck. Those higher costs will translate into higher premiums, which will mean fewer individuals and businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage. More of everyone’s dollar will go to health care, and government programs like Medicare and Medicaid will struggle to find the money to operate.


more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/weekinreview/28abelson.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. If reform doesn't go through prices will skyrocket

if congressmen and women don't see that then they shouldn't be in office.

[DJ13]

2. what we will have is a substantial deterioration

I think that for many people thats the preferred outcome, as doing nothing now will force real reform to happen sooner than it will if the phony HCR currently being offered gets passed.

If the present system becomes truly unstable due to the insurers jacking up rates and shrinking the pool of people buying a policy then a true single payer becomes a necessity in the near future.

[babylonsister]

3. If this reform fails, good luck with wishing another one will

be coming down the pike anytime soon. I highly doubt there's the will out there to go through this again, and if the rethugs get into power, they'll do what they've always done regarding health care, which is nothing.

[Oregone]

4. Demagoguertastic!

[Donnachaidh]

8. total hogwash -- the boogieman's best meme yet

oh puh-leeze --

if the insurance company profit protection act doesn't go through, then the reps who have always been honest about what REAL healthcare reform is will step up and put through what should have been put through - that is, what should have been put through BEFORE Obama and Rahm made backroom deals with the medical industrial complex.

[babylonsister]

9. When was the last time any rethug advanced the notion that

health care reform is necessary? Do tell, and I'll give you a couple of recent decades to choose from.

And do tell how anyone will 'step up and put through what should have been put through' in this climate given the obstruction by rethugs and too many Dems? Like I said, good luck with that.

[Cha]

13. Really.

[verges]

14. If this one fails, they will have no choice.

The problems that will not be fixed will grow exponentially. Next time around it should be easier becdause the country will be so f---ed up they will have no choice.

[verges]

12. I agree.

And the 45,000 people a year that die unnecessarily will increase dramatically as well. This issue will have to be revisited in the not very distant future, no matter what. If the current bill passes, then I'm guessing 7-10 years. If it fails: 3-5.

[prolesunited]

15. Hey and what's thousands more deaths each year

when we have a point to make?

I guess I take this personally since my COBRA expires today and I can't get insurance because I have multiple pre-existing conditions and I can't get on Medicaid because I've managed to keep my house and a paid-for car through this recession. If I get sick, it's death or bankruptcy. There's not much middle ground there.

[Peacetrain]

5. I for the life of me, do not understand how so many people

can sit and listen to the outright lies by the right, and do an amen corner ..and not see they are doing themselves harm by supporting them

[sellitman]

6. Sent to my Facebook friends

I usually keep politics off my Facebook page but this is way too important.

[Mike 03]

7. If we don't do this now, there will be no revelatory HCR in the future.

We MUST do this now, because we have so many economic difficulties facing us that there will be no hope to even begin to reform HC if we don't make major steps now.

EDIT: Rec.

[eridani]

10. And giving tax money to a totally worthless sector of the economy will just make the problem worse

Insurance companies add no net value whatsoever. The value they add in claims processing is more than counteracted by their killing and bankrupting people for profit.

[TomCADem]

11. The Health Care Debate Has Once Again Exposed The Republicans...

...as willing to do absolutely anything to re-gain power even if it means placing our Nation's economy and national security at risk. Voting against bills they sponsored. Voting against the wars they support. They have absolutely no sense of principle, except the craven pursuit of power.