THE DAILY DOSE: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010

Health Reform in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee on Ways and Means Committee on Education and Labor

Fact of the Day Without health insurance reform, public spending is projected to account for more than half of all health care spending in the U.S by 2012. (CMS Office of the Actuary)

Follow Health Insurance Reform facebook     twitter

Health Resources Majority Leader Clearinghouse HealthReform.gov MedPAC Alliance for Health Reform National Health Policy Forum Kaiser Family Foundation Families USA Commonwealth Fund Robert Wood Johnson Foundation RAND Health Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Partnership for Prevention Trust for America's Health Synthesis Project

At the Time This Daily Dose Was Sent, Insured Americans Had Paid a “Hidden Tax” of $47,378,226,179 since January 1, 2009 in Additional Premium Costs to Cover Care for the Uninsured.

Under the Microscope

MEDICAL EXPENSES HAVE ‘VERY STEEP RATE OF GROWTH’

A Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary report was released today in the Journal of Health Affairs.  It shows health spending consumed a record portion of the economy last year at 17.3 percent of GDP.  This health share of gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to have increased 1.1 percentage points in 2009—the largest single-year increase since 1960.  And public spending is projected to account for more than half of all U.S. health care spending by 2012.  With current total health spending in the U.S. at $2.5 trillion, imagining the Federal government footing half of an amount even greater than that in 2012 produces new urgency for getting health insurance reform passed that will slow the growth rate of health care costs and reduce budget deficits over the long term.

Read the CMS Office of the Actuary Report on national health expenditures: Health Spending Projections Through 2019: The Recession’s Impact Continues.
Read the  HHS and CMS press releases.
Read a fact sheet on the report.

CHIPRA ONE YEAR LATER: CONNECTING KIDS TO COVERAGE

A year ago today the President signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) – the successful and popular program that has brought health insurance coverage to 2.6 million previously uninsured children in fiscal year 2009 alone.  And because of the CHIP program, created under President Clinton in 1996, 40 million children last year had health insurance coverage.

In the first year after passage of CHIPRA, Medicaid and CHIP have provided a lifeline of coverage for our children in the face of tough economic times. Remarkably the Census Bureau announced this fall that the uninsured rate among our children was at its lowest level in over 20 years. Now it’s time to build on its successes and give all of America’s people an opportunity to find secure, affordable coverage for themselves and their families in a fiscally responsible way.

Read Secretaries Sebelius and Vilsack’s press release on the one-year anniversary and “The Secretary’s Challenge”

Read the report One Year Later: Connecting Kids to Coverage
Read Children’s Health CoverageState Fact Sheets
More information on CHIP can be found at www.insurekidsnow.gov

Health Care Headlines

Soaring Cost of Healthcare Sets a Record
In a stark reminder of growing costs, the government has released a new estimate that healthcare spending grew to a record 17.3% of the U.S. economy last year, marking the largest one-year jump in its share of the economy since the government started keeping such records half a century ago. [L.A. Times, 2/4/2010]

Health-Care Sector Grew As Economy Contracted In 2009
Health-care spending in the United States grew last year despite a contracting economy, amounting to 17.3 percent of the gross domestic product, according to estimates released Wednesday.
[Washington Post, 2/4/2010]

House Democrats Press Ahead With New Health Care Plan
House Democratic leaders are moving forward with Plan B for passing health care reform by introducing a stand-alone measure to strip the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies — a popular piece of their stalled health care reform package. [Roll Call, 2/3/2010]

Obama Suggests Republicans Could Have a Role In Health-Care Bill
President Obama urged congressional Democrats on Wednesday "to finish the job on health care," but amid tentative signs of bipartisan outreach on Capitol Hill, he suggested that Republicans could be enlisted to play at least some role in negotiating a final bill. [Washington Post, 2/4/2010]

In Hartford, More Than 1,000 Receive Medical Help At Free Clinic
The insurance capital of America played host Wednesday to the uninsured, more than 1,000 of whom filled the cavernous Connecticut Convention Center for the chance to see a doctor. [Hartford Courant, 2/4/2010]

OPINION: Ditching Health Reform Will Only Dig Us Into A Deeper Deficit
By David S. Broder
The economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 did so much damage to the United States that only now can we begin to measure the devastation. [Washington Post, 2/4/2010]

OPINION: Inaction on Health Is Costly
By David Wessel
A month ago, President Barack Obama was on the verge of a victory that eluded all his predecessors, as Congress neared approval of legislation to expand health-insurance coverage to nearly all Americans.
[Wall Street Journal, 2/4/2010]

COMMENTARY: Report: Feds To Pay More Than Half of Health Costs
By Ricardo Alonso-Zalvidar
The report serves as a reality check in the debate over Obama's health care plan, which has been dominated by disagreements over how large a role government should play. [Associated Press, 2/4/2010]