NYTimes.com
Published: August 25, 2009
Critics of President Obama’s push for health care reform have been whipping up fear that proposed changes will destroy our “world’s best” medical system and make it like supposedly inferior systems elsewhere.
The emptiness of those claims became apparent recently when researchers from the Urban Institute released a report analyzing studies that have compared the clinical effectiveness and quality of care in the United States with the care dispensed in other advanced nations. They found a mixed bag, with the United States doing better in some areas, like cancer care, and worse in others, like preventing deaths from treatable and preventable conditions.
A plea for a more rational system
Monthly Archive for August, 2009
Page 2 of 12
NYTimes.com
By JON R. GABEL
Published: August 25, 2009
FOR competence and integrity, few organizations command more respect in Washington than the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. As health care reform makes its way through Congress, the budget office’s assessment of how much various elements might cost may determine the details of legislation, and whether it ultimately passes. But when it comes to forecasting the costs of reform, the budget office’s record is suspect. In each of the past three decades, when assessing major changes in Medicare, it has substantially underestimated the savings the changes would bring.
Op-Ed Contributor – Congress’s Health Care Numbers Don’t Add Up – NYTimes.com
NYTimes.com
By DUFF WILSON
Published: August 25, 2009
As the health care debate focuses on whether cost cuts are looming in Medicare coverage, Representative Henry A. Waxman is on a crusade to save Medicare billions of dollars — in a way that he says would end up helping the elderly.
That is because the money would come from the drug industry, which is why Mr. Waxman may have a fight on his hands.
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August 25, 2009 Tuesday 9:30 AM EST
Increases consistent with a year ago, but sluggish economy creates worse situation for many employers and employeesCHICAGO, Aug. 25
CHICAGO, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Health care costs are expected to increase on average 10.5 percent in the next 12 months,(1) according to Aon Consulting, the global human capital consulting organization of Aon Corporation (NYSE: AOC).
Aon Consulting surveyed more than 60 leading health care insurers, representing more than 100 million insured individuals, and found that health care costs are projected to increase by 10.4 percent for HMOs, 10.4 percent for POS plans, 10.7 percent for PPOs and 10.5 percent for CDH plans. These are slightly lower than one year ago, when HMO cost increases were 10.6 percent and POS plans were 10.5 percent. PPOs and CDH plans remain steady at 10.7 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively. (See below for trend data from Aon Consulting’s prior health care surveys.)
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