A reasonable, responsible approach to reforming U.S. healthcare system

Soaring healthcare costs are putting a squeeze on family budgets and small businesses all across our nation. In many corners of America, the cost of health insurance is increasing as much as three times faster than wages. In my home state of North Dakota, for example, it’s projected that by 2016 families will spend $20,000 a year on healthcare — or 41 percent of their income. 

The skyrocketing cost of healthcare is threatening our national economy as well. The United States will spend approximately $2.5 trillion on healthcare this year alone. That’s about one-sixth of the total U.S. economy. If current trends continue, it is estimated that one-third of our national economy will soon be tied up in the health system. Current trends show Medicare going bankrupt in eight years. Premiums are rising at a rate unsustainable for far too many families.

With 46 million Americans without health insurance and another 25 million underinsured, maintaining the status quo is no longer an option.

As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Finance Committee, I have been working on a bipartisan basis to write healthcare reform legislation based on three principles: choice, value and coverage.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) recently unveiled his initial proposal — based on hundreds of hours of bipartisan meetings with the so-called “Group of Six” — to deliver a bipartisan healthcare reform proposal.

The Baucus proposal is a reasonable, responsible approach to healthcare reform. It improves health insurance so those who already have it won’t have it taken away. It reforms the healthcare delivery system to control costs and improve quality. And it provides assistance to help families and small businesses afford health insurance.

The Baucus proposal is fiscally responsible. It is completely paid for and reduces the deficit by $49 billion during the next 10 years — and by $1.3 trillion in the following decade. And, most importantly, CBO says it will slow the growth in healthcare costs that threaten to bankrupt us.

The Baucus proposal builds on our current health system and improves it without any government takeover of medicine. It embraces choice and competition. It sets up new health exchanges where consumers can shop for the best value in a healthcare plan that fits their family’s needs. It creates consumer-run co-op health plans — not government-run plans — to keep private insurance honest.

And it provides tax credits to help families and businesses buy coverage.

The proposal also writes new rules for insurance companies in the exchange. It guarantees that plans can’t deny coverage, drop coverage or charge extra just because you get sick or have a pre-existing condition. And it bans annual or lifetime caps on benefits.

It is also important to note what the bill does not do. It does not put government in charge of medicine. It does not cut benefits for seniors. It does not provide benefits to illegal immigrants. It does not expand taxpayer funding for abortion. And it does not contain death panels or ration care.

The Baucus proposal is a very good start. This is an approach that senators on both sides of the aisle should embrace. Reforming America’s healthcare system isn’t an easy task, but it is one whose time has finally come. Working together — Democrats, Republicans and independents — we can institute real reform that works for America’s families and businesses.

Conrad is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.