Health stories news: Will, can health executives deliver promised $2 trillion savings?

How serious is the health industry’s vow to cut costs?

Yesterday, industry executives representing doctors, drug and medical device makers, hospitals and insurers as well as health-service workers met with President Barack Obama and promised to slow the rise of health costs.

If these promised savings were to be realized, it is estimated it would save $2 trillion in health-care spending over a decade.

But skeptics abound. 

In a news analysis piece in today’s New York Times, Robert Pear writes that by bringing these executives in to participate in his push for health-care reform agenda, Mr. Obama “engineered a political coup”.

But Pear also points out:

“If history is a guide, (the health industry executives’) commitments may not produce the promised savings. Their proposals are vague — promising, for example, to reduce both ‘overuse and underuse of health care.’ None of the proposals are enforceable, and none of the savings guaranteed.”

Meanwhile, various experts weigh in on the Washington Post’s Website. They range from guardedly optimistic to skeptical.

Thomas Miller of the American Enterprise Institute, a skeptic, for example, writes: 

 If it was so easy to shave 1.5 percentage points annually off the projected future rate of health cost growth, one might wonder why we didn’t stumble across that magical solution last year or even earlier?

Len Nichols of the New America Foundation writes more hopefully:

There is much analytic work left to be done. But this announcement is reason to be optimistic about our chances to achieve and sustain quality, affordable coverage for all.

To learn more:

• Read Robert Pear’s article: Health Vows: It’s Still Early
• Read the comments on the Washington Post’s Website.

Tags: Health Insurance, Health-care Reform, Healthcare Policy, Insurance

Category: Health Insurance, Health-care Policy, Insurance