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White House touts new healthcare study
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11/12/09 12:33 PM ET
The White House is touting a report this morning by the Business Roundtable finding that healthcare reform could significant lower costs and boost hiring and wages.
Though the group strongly opposed the legislation passed by the House last week, the report is more reform friendly in tone than studies issued by insurance trade groups in recent weeks.
Among the study's key findings: "The right reforms could result in health care costs growing at the same rate as overall GDP – about 4 percent per year. For employers and employees, this represents a considerable improvement from the recent 10 percent per year growth rate."
"A new report released today by the Business Roundtable underscores what experts and businesspeople have told us all along – comprehensive health insurance reform is one of the most important investments we can make in American competitiveness," he said.
But the report isn't all good news for Democrats. The authors said reform being considered in Congress was too tepid.
"Incremental efforts, like those proposed by House and Senate Committees, will undoubtedly be helpful over the long term," the study finds. "But on their own, they will not bend the cost curve as much as is needed to approximate the overall growth rate in the economy, and they could easily become sabotaged by the same risks that have plagued cost-control initiatives for decades."
Like reports by America's Health Insurance Plans and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the report warns that weak individual mandates could drive up costs.
The report also cautions that any public option must maintain sufficient doctor reimbursements rates to avoid "cost-shifting to the private sector."
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