health care costs

Money-Driven Medicine

Submitted by pahealth on October 22, 2009 - 9:07am

"The U.S. spends twice as much per person on healthcare as the average developed nation, fully one-sixth of our GDP - yet our outcomes, especially for chronic diseases, are very often worse. What makes us different?"

The Primary Care Solution

Submitted by pahealth on August 31, 2009 - 1:09pm

"President Obama has pledged that reform must produce both universal coverage and major cost savings," writes Dr. Thomas J. Gates of Lancaster. "Understandably, we are skeptical." How can covering more people not drive up health care costs? By emphasizing primary care much more than we do now. "Without exception," says Gates, "regions and countries with the best medical outcomes have built systems with good access to primary care medicine."

"The Health Reform Bill is the Flashpoint"

Submitted by pahealth on August 12, 2009 - 12:52pm

What have we learned over the course of the past two weeks about support for health care reform?

York Town Hall Meetings Endorse Health Reform

Submitted by pahealth on August 6, 2009 - 12:15pm

Emotions ran high in two town hall meetings held August 5th in York. Although opponents of reform made the most noise, a majority of participants indicated their support for national health reform.

The meetings, hosted by York Representative Eugene DePasquale and Montgomery County Representative Josh Shapiro, focused on gathering input from area residents on the health care legislation moving through Congress. Shapiro promised to forward the results of the meeting to the White House.

President Obama answers health reform questions

Submitted by pahealth on June 25, 2009 - 1:12pm

On June 15th, President Obama gave a major speech to the American Medical Association in which he laid out his vision for health care reforms.

Following are excerpts from that speech.

"To say it as plainly as I can, health care reform is the single most important thing we can do for America's long-term fiscal health. That is a fact."

Health crisis will worsen if Congress fails to act

Submitted by pahealth on May 22, 2009 - 10:59am

By 2019, up to 66 million Americans could be uninsured and the costs of health care for businesses could double unless comprehensive health reform is enacted by Congress.

That is a key finding in a report, Health Reform: The Cost of Failure, released May 21 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"As battered as our health system has been in recent years, unless we take action, the worst is far from over," said Riza Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D. and president of the Foundation.

More Americans can’t afford medical care

Submitted by pahealth on October 22, 2008 - 11:31pm

A growing number of Americans are reporting difficulty with medical costs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's final election 2008 tracking poll. The poll was conducted October 8-13 and involved a random sample of 1,217 adults.

Nearly half (47 percent) of the American public reports that because of cost, someone in the family didn't fill a prescription, skipped doses of medicine, postponed getting health care, skipped a recommended medical test or treatment, or had difficulty getting mental health care.

Devastating financial consequences if we don’t control health care costs

Submitted by pahealth on July 16, 2008 - 2:03pm

"The health care picture of the future isn't (just) cloudy. There will be devastating financial consequences if we don't hunger down and prepare for a severe fiscal storm."

So writes John Wasik, a Bloomberg News columnist, in the Boston Globe. Unless we get costs under control, health care spending will consume 20 percent of U.S. income by 2017.