Health Care Spending Skyrockets

[Cookie Parker]

http://www.truthout.org/health-care-...-tapering56721

In 2009, health care spending grew by 5.7 percent, now reaching $2.5 trillion. It is the largest increase since the federal government began tracking these figures in 1960, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Health care costs also made up 17.3 percent of the US's gross domestic product (GDP), which was 1.1 percent higher than in 2008. CMS's 2009-2019 projections indicate that health expenditures will continue to grow "increasingly faster," at an annual rate of 6.1 percent - 1.7 percentage points faster than annual GDP growth - and climb to $4.5 trillion.

Without the passage of a health care reform bill, currently stalled in the House, public spending will comprise more than 50 percent of all national health expenditures by 2012.

The costs grew at a rate of 8.7 percent in 2009, higher than the 3 percent increase in private spending, which has a slower growth rate due to the economic downturn. CMS projected that public spending will continue to increase at a higher rate than private spending over the next nine years.

Per capita health care spending was $8,046 in 2009, and is expected to increase to $13,387 by 2019.

According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the US spent about $7,290 per person in 2007, by far the highest amount for any of the developed countries observed. Switzerland came in second at $4,417 per person. Canada spent $3,895, while the UK, which spent the average amount for developed countries in the OECD data, spent $2,986.

The report might galvanize efforts to pass health care reform legislation, which have been floundering lately. The Obama administration faces tough opposition in the House and the Senate, and the president announced in his State of the Union address that jobs would be his main priority. Polls also show that a majority of Americans disapprove of the way health care reform has been handled.

On Thursday at a Democratic Party fundraising event, President Obama said that health care reform was the "single best way" to reduce the deficit, a fact that he added has raised no argument.

"Nobody can dispute the fact that if we don't tackle surging health care costs, then we can't control our budget," he said.

The report lists prices and utilization (both the volume and intensity of services) as the two primary drivers of growth in overall health care spending, with smaller effects from population growth and the age-sex mix.

The two main areas of federal spending are Medicare and Medicaid. Last year, Medicare costs rose by 8.9 percent as more baby boomers reached the age to qualify for its benefits. Though the growth will slow in 2010 due to mandated reductions in physician payments, Medicare will continue to grow as more individuals become eligible for it.

Meanwhile, the rise in Medicaid spending, the largest since 2002, was "largely a result of rising unemployment." CMS expects the costs of both to increase continuously as eligibility rises and the economic downturn continues, and predicts an annual increase of 7.1 percent in federal spending from 2009 to 2019.

The growth of private health insurance spending was slower, at 3.3 percent, while out-of-pocket payments grew by 2.1 percent. The annual growth prediction for private spending was 5.2 percent. The report cited "private insurance enrollment that is expected to have declined 1.2 percent" and increasing unemployment as factors in this decline, which occurred despite the federal subsidies granted by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (AARA) of 2009.

Spending on actual health services and supplies, including hospital care, physician and clinical services, prescription drugs and other medical products, increased by 5.7 percent in 2009. Annual growth rates from 2009 to 2019 are projected at 6.1 percent.

The CMS report states that no "estimated impacts of any health care reform proposals" are included as a factor in its projections.

At the same fundraiser on Thursday, President Obama said "we should take our time" in passing a final health care bill so that he could hear ideas from the Republicans, sit down with both parties and health care experts and move forward on a vote.

However, he added, the key is to "not let the moment slip away."

Republicans have largely opposed the health care bill, with some, like House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), calling it a "government takeover" of health care that will raise costs. They have also argued that the Democrats have not invited them to help draft the legislation.

Since Republican Sen. Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate race, Democrats are divided over what to do about the health care bill, as the Republicans now have enough members to filibuster and block the vote. Additionally, many prefer to focus on stressing job growth.

If the bill doesn't pass through Congress, President Obama warned that lawmakers in both parties would have to explain to their voters why plans for more efficient health care and cheaper health insurance fell apart.

"There will be elections coming up," he said, referring to Congressional elections in November. "Then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not."

Now that the right has spread its lies about what the health insurance reform was all about, the corporations feel confident they can continue to gouge the American tax payer...and get by with it.

[Cookie Parker]

Well, the republicans got the type of increase in pay for the rich health insurance industry they wanted. They destroyed chances to regulate it and in return, the industry gouges Americans.

Consistent in their philosophies, republicans prove once again they are anti-American family.

[whiplash]

Originally Posted by Cookie Parker

http://www.truthout.org/health-care-...-tapering56721



Now that the right has spread its lies about what the health insurance reform was all about, the corporations feel confident they can continue to gouge the American tax payer...and get by with it.

Yep, Republicans killed BHO's Health Care Reform. Funny how they could do that with no majority votes in either house and not having the Presidency. It must be MAGIC!

[Cookie Parker]

Originally Posted by whiplash

Yep, Republicans killed BHO's Health Care Reform. Funny how they could do that with no majority votes in either house and not having the Presidency. It must be MAGIC!

Oh, but you remember. They had the help of Dick Armey and FOX news with the townhall meetings. They spread lies about death panels.

They blocked and stalled it...making it a political game instead of addressing the issues of increased costs in premiums eating up budgets in American families,. or more and more not being covered.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-m..._b_364058.html

The CBO score obliterates the arguments opponents of health care reform have been using for months. They've been claiming the Senate health plan will be a 'costly' government takeover and it will lead to 'delays' and 'denial' of care. For months, the Minority Leader has claimed that Americans will be "forced into a government plan they don't like." These false claims are deplorable scare tactics. The American people deserve better. They deserve the truth.

Truth- The bill will reduce the deficit by $127 billion dollars and brings down health care costs for individuals and businesses.

Truth - This bill will result in health care coverage for 94% of all Americans.

Truth - The bill includes a public option which will create much-needed competition with the private industry and give Americans more choices.

Truth - The bill will ban the egregious practice of insurance companies denying care on the basis of pre-existing conditions and will make it illegal for insurance companies to drop your coverage if you get sick.

Truth - The bill will end arbitrary lifetime limits and unreasonable annual caps that limit care to people who need it the most.

Truth - The health care bill increases patient care by investing in preventive care, wellness programs and helps families grapple with the high cost of long-term care.

Opponents of health care reform are not only peddling lies created by manipulative messengers like Frank Luntz, they're also doing whatever they can to obstruct progress. My colleagues across the aisle are going to use every weapon in their arsenal to block health care. They have no qualms about delaying and stonewalling this critical piece of legislation - after all, they have just spent two weeks blocking a bill providing vital health care services for our veterans. This is shameful.

Members of both parties know this bill will reduce the deficit. They know what a difference this bill could make in the lives of the uninsured and the under-insured. They know that it will help improve the bottom lines of the small businesses on Main Street.

We have a duty to ensure that patients don't have to worry whether they'll be dropped from their coverage if they get sick. Small business owners shouldn't have to break the bank to provide coverage to their employees. And families should not be forced into bankruptcy because of a medical crisis.

Congress has a choice to make. We can provide affordable, accessible health care to Americans, or we can continue with the status quo health care system that leaves millions of Americans behind. Now is the time for members of Congress to engage in real leadership, do what we were elected to do, and allow this bill to the Senate floor for debate.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/23/...lth-huge-gain/

Last week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) set off a political storm when he said that if Republicans can defeat health care reform it would be President Obama’s “Waterloo” because it would “break him.” Since then, some Republicans have sought to distance themselves from DeMint’s view that defeating health care would yield political advantages for the GOP.

But Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) isn’t shying away from revealing his honest feelings. Appearing on Janet Parshall’s radio show yesterday, Inhofe argued that the defeat of President Clinton’s health care reform “started the demise of Bill Clinton that led to the 1994 Republican takeover of the House and the Senate.” He then added that he is now “tracking the demise” of Obama’s health care plans and it is making him “optimistic”:

INHOFE: They ought to know, they ought to know from history. This is a losing proposition for them. And for those out there who believe, that would like to have something optimistic to look at, we are plotting the demise on a week by week basis of where Bill Clinton was in 1993 and where Obama is today and his demise ratio is greater than Clinton’s was in 1993. So, he’s trying to do the same things, except more extreme.

Listen here:

Inhofe also appeared on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show yesterday, where he was asked if Republicans had the votes “to block health care, the radical stuff in the Senate.” Inhofe said he thought they did:

INHOFE: Oh, I think so. I really do. In fact, there’ll be a lot of Democrats. You know, I liken it to the cap and trade thing. Now that’s the one that I’ve been kind of in charge of for ten years, and we know where we are on that now. We know that if, as long as people keep talking the way they are right now, we’re going to defeat it. They only have 34 votes. They need 60 votes. I’d say health care right now is somewhere in the neighborhood of, they have maybe 45 votes. But every day, they lose votes, because people find out what it is, what it’s going to do, and what it’s not going to do. When you tell people that the mortality rate in Canada is 25% higher for breast cancer, 18% higher for prostate cancer, you know, they say why in the world would we emulate a system like that? This is life threatening. And so we have all the issues on our side on this thing, and I think, you know, I just hope the President keeps talking about it, keeps trying to rush it through. We can stall it. And that’s going to be a huge gain for those of us who want to turn this thing over in the 2010 election.

Listen here:

Later in his interview with Hewitt, Inhofe also revealed why the GOP strategy to “slow down” health care is really an effort to “kill it.” “If he is unsuccessful — which I anticipate and will predict he is — on getting a vote prior to the August recess, then I would say there’s no way in the world they’re going to get this done this year,” said Inhofe. “And next year would not be any easier.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...ry-supporters/

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his GOP-blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday, comparing Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery more than a century ago.

The Nevada Democrat, in a sweeping set of accusations on the Senate floor, also compared health care foes to those who opposed women's suffrage and the civil rights movement -- even though it was Sen. Strom Thurmond, then a Democrat, who unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and it was Republicans who led the charge against slavery.

Senate Republicans on Monday called Reid's comments "offensive" and "unbelievable."

But Reid argued that Republicans are using the same stalling tactics employed in the pre-Civil War era.

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, 'slow down, stop everything, let's start over.' If you think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right," Reid said Monday. "When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said 'slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough.'"

He continued: "When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted they simply, slow down, there will be a better day to do that, today isn't quite right.

"When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today."

That seemed to be a reference to Thurmond's famous 1957 filibuster -- the late senator switched parties several years later.

Reid's office stood by the remarks, with spokesman Jim Manley saying Republicans have "done nothing but obstruct health care" in the Senate.

"Today's feigned outrage is nothing but a ploy to distract from the fact they have no plan to lower the cost of health care, stop insurance company abuses or protect Medicare," Manley said.

But Republicans said they were genuinely appalled. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Reid's remarks were over the top.

"That is extremely offensive," he told Fox News. "It's language that should never be used, never be used. ... Those days are not here now."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who on the Senate floor read from this FoxNews.com article and asked that it be placed in the record, called on Reid to return to the floor and, if not apologize, at least explain what he meant.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., suggested Reid was starting to "crack" under the pressure of the health care reform debate.

"I think it's beneath the dignity of the majority leader," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said. "I personally am insulted."

[whiplash]

LOL! It wash "botche"; but not by Republicans.

[Cookie Parker]

Originally Posted by whiplash

LOL! It wash "botche"; but not by Republicans.

Sure it was. And I provided a FOX news source just for your pleasure.

It was stalled and delayed and the media had a field day with the death panels and government run and "Bolshevik" plots.

I understand your embarassment over the behavior of your party on ignoring the suffering of the American people and their rising costs of health care or NOT having health care. But you will get no affirmation of your lies about the republicans and their killing the discussions of health care.

[Oceanbreeze]

Originally Posted by whiplash

Yep, Republicans killed BHO's Health Care Reform. Funny how they could do that with no majority votes in either house and not having the Presidency. It must be MAGIC!

yep, the blame game is wearing thin when Cookie can't even see her own party is turning against themselves.

[Cookie Parker]

Originally Posted by Oceanbreeze

yep, the blame game is wearing thin when Cookie can't even see her own party is turning against themselves.

republicans don't get it. Sadder still, is you are willing to destroy other republicans.

Democrats are in a wide array of the political/social/economic spectrum and range from conservative to liberal. Economically, the last time the deficit was in the black was under a democrat....Clinton.

Because of the variety, there are many different areas that are addressed. It's like, when you represent 300,000,000 people, you have a lot in various stages in life and in various economic situations. When you represent only 3,000,000 of the richest people in this nation, as the republicans do, you have a lock step path you follow...make them richer by lying to those who vote you in office.

Now, you can't begin to tell when was the last legislation written for the working man by the republicans. You'll come off with some flip little "troll" comment, but OB, it's seen that you don't know. YOu are totally clueless about even your own party.

THAT is why so many republicans are turning away from the party. They look at loonies like Palin facing ethical charges and quitting as governor and wonder "Who the hell needs this?"

THOSE are the ones who will not turn out on voting night in November. THEY are the ones who outnumber the radical right wing nuts....THOSE republicans are watching as Obama tries again and again and again to help the working man...and they watch as republicans in Congress try to block, slow it down, or stop it all together.

YOu may certainly continue to shoot the foot of every civilian American in this nation and keep them health care, good jobs and fair housing....but they aren't going to do it to themselves. THESE republicans, who AREN'T Socialists in our nation, are done with the rich getting richer.