The Denver Post
September 29, 2011
When critics insist the growth of this nation’s health care burden is unsustainable, this is what they mean: The average cost of an employer-provided family insurance plan soared by 9 percent in 2011. That’s far higher than the rate of inflation or the average growth of wages.
Nor is this year’s increase out of line with recent history.
In a word, it’s a looming disaster. And yet our political leaders mostly still refuse to come to terms with it.
Some Republicans immediately sought to blame the Affordable Care Act, which critics call Obamacare, for the latest news, although unsustainable health-care inflation predated the legislation and indeed was one of the main arguments offered in support of its passage.
But many Democrats appear equally determined to sidestep reality when discussing health care costs, insisting — in the face of all early evidence — that the Affordable Care Act will restrain costs over time, if we are patient enough.
We opposed that legislation because we were convinced — and have seen nothing since to change our opinion — that it will not, unfortunately, rein in costs to any major extent. The Congressional Budget Office certainly doesn’t think so, either.
Although both parties are still largely in denial on health care, there are exceptions. Democrats who favored a single-payer system understood that it would have a better chance of achieving cost control than most alternatives, given the experience in other countries. And other Dems have prioritized cost containment.
Some Republicans also understand the need for fundamental reform, with Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, leading the charge. We take issue with elements of Ryan’s approach — block grants to states for Medicaid and premium subsidies for Medicare coverage that patients would then purchase in the private market — but at least he appreciates the necessity of revamping incentives.
“At its core,” Ryan said in speech this week at the Hoover Institution, “the health care problem is one of inflation, driven by the over-utilization of services, dramatic underpayments, and massive inefficiency.”
And if nothing is done to address those issues, this nation’s future will be bleak indeed.
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_18998740
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
The Kaiser Family Foundation report on the 9 percent increase in family health insurance premiums brought back to the front pages the issue of unsustainable health care cost increases. The Denver Post had previously opposed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) because they “were convinced — and have seen nothing since to change our opinion — that it will not, unfortunately, rein in costs to any major extent.” So what do they see as our options?
They dismiss the political battle between the Republicans who are blaming ACA for this year’s premium increases, and the Democrats who are defending ACA as a (certainly dubious) vehicle for cost restraint.
They do give credit to Republican Paul Ryan for recognizing the problem, but they “take issue with elements of Ryan’s approach.”
And Democrats? The Denver Post editors state, “Democrats who favored a single-payer system understood that it would have a better chance of achieving cost control than most alternatives, given the experience in other countries.”
The Denver Post falls short of endorsing single payer, but it’s the only truly effective option that they seem to offer.
The better people understand the single payer model, the greater the support that we’ll see. Keep spreading the word.