Distrust of the plan has more to do with people’s feelings about the general direction the country is moving in than the actual provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). My Canadian relatives can’t fathom why many Americans don’t like “Obamacare.” Though the law may not be perfect, it expands coverage to the uninsured while making great strides in protecting insured people from the vagaries of the private marketplace, as the AFL-CIO outlined in a strong statement of support yesterday. news programs, Canadians grumble about their system, but they’re terrified of ours. My Canadian relatives don’t agree on much politically, but like Michael Moore’s relatives in Sicko, they’re afraid they’ll be bankrupted if they wind up in a hospital across the border. I’ve never met a Canadian who thinks our system is better than theirs.More likely, national health costs would skyrocket and seniors would receive less adequate insurance and care.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Ryan’s fiscal year 2012 budget resolution would increase economy-wide health care spending by as much as $34 trillion over 75 years-six times the size of the projected Social Security shortfall-if seniors purchased Medicare-equivalent plans. The House budget resolutions developed by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would shift costs to vulnerable seniors while weakening Medicare’s ability to control these costs. Shifting responsibility to individuals would increase overall costs.As the National Academy of Social Insurance has found, Medicare costs have generally grown more slowly than costs in the private sector (see also Diane Archer’s discussion here). Nevertheless, government insurance is more efficient. Government programs aren’t immune to cost inflation, however, since most government beneficiaries see the same providers as patients with private insurance.
The private sector plays a larger role in the United States, where health care costs have risen much faster, than in other countries. In the absence of this excess cost inflation, spending on these programs would increase to a more manageable 8.6 percent of GDP in 2037, largely reflecting the long-anticipated baby boomer retirement. Nearly two-thirds of this increase is due to the assumption that per capita health care expenditures will grow faster than per capita GDP. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that federal spending on major health programs will increase from 7.4 percent of GDP in 2022 to 10.4 percent in 2037 if current policies remain in place.
As fewer Americans are covered by employer-sponsored insurance, government has taken up the slack. Government picks up nearly half the tab.Despite this higher spending, health outcomes are no better than in other developed countries. Americans spent a total of around $7,600 per person on health care in 2010, compared with around $3,900 on average for countries with similar standards of living, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The United States spends nearly double what other countries spend.Celebrating Medicare and Medicaid’s 47th birthday this week, here are some quick thoughts on government’s role in ensuring access to affordable health care:
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