Health Care In Crisis: How Special Interest Could Double Health Costs and How We Can Stop It
2009-01-28
Executive Summary
Our health care system is in crisis. Without swift
action, that crisis could threaten every Florida
family’s health and finances. Unless the new
Congress and Administration act to reduce health care costs, the yearly
cost of the average employer-paid family health policy in Florida is projected to more than double from $11,046 in 2006 to $22,376 by 2016 even after
adjusting for inflation.
If recent trends continue, wages and household incomes
will simply not keep up with these high costs. Nor will the business sector be
immune to this crisis. Unchecked, this cost epidemic could also severely impact
the small businesses that drive job creation in the Florida’s economy.
Unfortunately, too much
of these astronomic costs are going to enrich special interests, not buy the
best health care. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationally as
much as one third of health care spending is wasted and does not improve
outcomes. That means that, in 2007, one out of every three dollars that
Americans spent on health care, or $730 billion, went to theinsurance bureaucracies, drug companies,
medical device manufacturers, and providers without improving a single person’s
health. In Florida,
one third of health spending amounts to $31.72 billion.
This report examines
three important sources of this unproductive spending. We conclude with a
package of urgently needed reforms which target those causes, improve quality
of care, and rein in this unnecessary spending. As part of comprehensive health
reform, these policies will enable America to emerge from this crisis
with a health system that consumers and businesses can afford and families can
depend on.
