The lack of health reform costly to U.S.

 

Friday, Mar 27,2009, 2:17:21 PM   Click:

Copyright: The Indianapolis Star
Source: Indianapolis Star, The
Wordcount: 389


March 25 - Not since the Clinton administration health care reform has received much attention.

But the price of waiting was steep.

From 1994 to 2007, the number of Americans without health insurance grew by nearly 9 million people - including about 96,000 in Indiana.

And those who pay more to cover it, according to a report published this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a nonprofit health research group in Princeton, NJ

In Indiana, incentives provided by the employer for family coverage averaged $ 11,454 in 2006, an increase of 80 percent the cost in 1996. The employee's share of this bonus, $ 2685 in 2006, was 87 percent higher.

Since the mid-1990s, the median income in Indiana has increased by 12 percent.

"Health is inextricably linked to our economic vitality as a nation and our ability to recover from the current crisis," said John Lumpkin, director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Care Group.

"As a nation, if we (the reform) off the cost of damage to people and our ability to find solutions will be more difficult in the future."


Many in health care agree reform is necessary, but exactly how this reform should be considered is an area of strong disagreement.

Dr. Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician and director of Indiana University's Center for Health Policy Research and professionalism, advocates a single payer system like Medicare for all.

"More and more people are financial," said Carroll. "Co-pays are increasingly a burden for a family."

Martha Crosley, manager of his family dental practice in Danville, would like to see greater regulation of for-profit health insurance companies.

His frustration with the health insurers include the increased costs, but also "looking for a policy that was launched by a solid company that you know there will be a good insurance when you need it."

Dr. Samuel Nussbaum, chief medical officer of Indianapolis health benefits giant Wellpoint, said that most of the increase in premiums from factors related to the increased cost of care because of new technology and high cost diseases chroniques.

Profits and administrative costs for insurers, he said, accounts for a small percentage of health costs.

He said that health care reform should focus on improving people's health through measures such as welfare programs and better management of chronic diseases.