By David Morgan
Reuters
Originally published January 10, 2012
The United States could save $2 trillion in healthcare spending over the next decade, if the U.S. government used its influence in the public and private sectors to nudge soaring costs into line with economic growth, a study released on Thursday said.
Compiled by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund, the study recommends holding the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare system to an annual spending target by having Medicare, Medicaid, other government programs and private insurers encourage providers to accelerate adoption of more cost-effective care.
Such a plan would require new legislation from a bitterly divided U.S. Congress, where Republicans would likely oppose new government controls, despite claims by the study's authors that families, employers and government budgets would receive long-sought relief from their growing financial healthcare burdens if the changes were enacted.
But Commonwealth Fund President Dr. David Blumenthal, a former healthcare adviser to President Barack Obama, said the approach could find bipartisan support in upcoming deficit talks as an alternative to cutting so-called entitlement programs including Medicare, the popular healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.
"In comparison with what some of those proposals advocate, we think that some of what we're proposing will look like an escape valve," Blumenthal told reporters in a conference call.
The United States has the world's most expensive healthcare system, which government forecasters say will cost more than $9,200 this year for every man, woman and child. Spending growth has slowed in recent years, but costs continue to outpace inflation and restrain overall economic growth.
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