How Health Iinsurance Reform Will Benefit Tennessee

Read a list presented by HealthReform.gov that shows how health reform will benefit Tennessee.

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AP sources: Senate health overhaul costs top $1.6T

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate sources say the latest cost estimates for health care legislation are around $1.6 trillion over 10 years. Two Senate staffers, one Democratic and one Republican, said Congressional Budget Office estimates put the cost of the Finance Committee version of the bill at around $1.6 trillion.

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Congressional Health Care Reform Proposals Would Offer Coverage to Many Without Insurance

With health reform high on the agenda of the incoming Congress and President, a new analysis of legislative proposals—including the plans of President-elect Barack Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT)—shows that several proposals already put forth could substantially reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and would either reduce health care spending or add only modestly to annual health care expenditures. The proposals demonstrate that it is possible to cover everyone with little or no additional total health spending, but to do so means requiring that everyone have coverage, and achieving administrative savings and purchasing efficiencies by building on public programs and group purchase of private insurance—either through employers or insurance exchanges.

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RAND COMPARE

COMPARE is a transparent, evidence-based approach to providing information and tools to help policymakers, the media, and other interested parties understand, design, and evaluate health policies.

COMPARE has four objectives:

• Synthesize what is known about the current health care system.
• Describe policy options that have been proposed to address one or more existing challenges.
• Analyze the effects of different health care policy options on multiple dimensions of health system performance.
• Identify gaps in our knowledge about the effects of policy changes.

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Stand Tall for America

With your help, Stand Tall for America will be the online organizing center for Americans who care about progressive policy change that tackles the tough problems facing our country -- including health care, tax reform, net neutrality, and more.

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Proposed Health System Savings and Revenue Options

The U.S. health care system is in crisis. This crisis is not limited to the 46 million who lack health insurance – it extends to those who have health coverage but are worried about increasing costs. Rising health care costs affect families and American businesses, as health insurance premiums continue to outpace wages and inflation. Between 1999 and 2008, premiums for employer-sponsored health benefits increased 117 percent for families and individuals and 119 percent for employers. And annual health spending growth is expected to outpace average annual growth in the overall economy by 2.1 percentage points in each of the next ten years. In 2009 alone, health spending will increase 5.5 percent while gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to decrease 0.2 percent.

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Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans

The U.S. is the only developed country that does not guarantee health coverage for all its citizens, with 46 million uninsured and another 25 million underinsured. Today, the cost of caring for the uninsured is largely borne by those with insurance; providers charge higher prices to patients with private coverage to make up for uncompensated care, and these costs are passed on to consumers in the form of increased premiums. A high-performing health system would guarantee all Americans affordable, quality coverage regardless of age, health status, or medical history. This document outlines policy options for providing affordable health care coverage for all Americans.

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Proposals to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Health Care Costs

Our nation’s health care providers — physicians, nurses, hospitals, and others — work hard to provide life-saving and life-improving care to millions of Americans. However, the level of quality and efficiency of care provided varies significantly across the country. It has become increasingly evident that the way health care is paid for in our system does not always encourage the right care, at the right time, for each and every patient. Today’s payment systems more often reward providers for the quantity of care delivered, rather than the quality of care and discourage providers from working together to offer patients the best possible care.

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