Cost of not reforming health care

Unless you're fighting off the swine flu, you're probably sick of medical talk. Even then, you likely just want a prescription and to be left alone.

But regardless of how you're feeling, please bear with me a little bit longer as I update you on the effort to reform the U.S. health care system. Yes, it is finally moving on Capitol Hill.

In the wee hours of this morning, the Senate Finance Committee wrapped up its debate over health care.

After the final costs of the Finance Committee's package are computed by the Congressional Budget Office, Senate
leaders plan to merge it with a measure
approved by the Senate health committee. Full Senate debate is expected
by mid-October, which is also when the House should begin action on its own health care reform proposals.

Then
comes the conference committee to meld the House and Senate versions.
But given all the discussion so far, both sides know pretty much what
the other wants and what each will or won't accept.

So we might actually get a bill by the end of the year.

The high cost of no reform:
While there's been a lot of attention paid to just how much the revamping
of the U.S. health care system will cost, a couple of organizations say
that doing nothing also carries an exorbitant price tag.

With
impeccable, or perhaps simply lucky, timing, the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation and the Urban Institute have released a study that the
groups say underscores the financial necessity of reform.

The Cost of Failure to Enact Health Reform: Implications for States
says that "if federal reform efforts fail, over the next decade in
every state, the number of uninsured will increase, employer sponsored
coverage will continue to erode, spending on public programs will
balloon and individual and family out-of-pocket cost could increase by
more than 35 percent."

According to the study, without health insurance reform expect:

• Individual and
  family out-of-pocket costs would increase by more than 35 percent in
  every state. In the best case, 12 states would see individual and
  family spending increase by more than 50 percent. 
  
• As many as 65.7
  million Americans to be uninsured, increasing costs to taxpayers. Today, there are more than 46 million uninsured. Every state would see at least a 10 percent rise in the number of uninsured; the
  increase would be more than 30 percent in 29 states.
• Employers paying
  significantly higher health insurance premiums. In 46 states, employers
  could be paying more than 60 percent more for health insurance
  premiums. Employers in 27 states will see premiums more than double.

The report
breaks out the coverage and cost estimates for each state. Below is a
snapshot of Texas' data. You can see it in larger, clearer detail on
page 57. If you live elsewhere, the state projections begin
alphabetically on page 14 of the report             .

In
closing, the report's authors conclude that "without significant reform
that makes health insurance more accessible and affordable and reduces
the rate of health care cost growth over time, the number of uninsured
will increase and health care spending will increase dramatically,"
placing an added burden on taxpayers.

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