The Business Roundtable, a group of CEOs that lead companies measuring about 1/3 of the US stock market, released a report this week with some pretty daunting numbers. The study was titled “Health Care Reform: The Perils of Inaction and the Promise of Effective Action”.

For instance, take a look at this graph.

Rising Cost of Inaction

Key Findings

• Without significant marketplace reforms, if current trends continue, annual health care costs for employers will rise 166 percent over the next decade, from $10,743 per employee today to $28,530 by 2019[1].

• These runaway costs, combined with a $56 billion cost shift to payors from uncompensated care, would cripple the employer-based system that currently provides coverage for the majority of Americans and their families.

• If nothing changes, by 2019, total health care spending will reach $4.4 trillion, consuming more than 20 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product.

Now, the Roundtable is no leftist organization trying to promote healthcare. They are solidly on the right in matters of finance, economics and the budget. So, that they are weighing in at this point is important. Here you have a key Republican constituency, corporate America, saying that the costs of inaction are enormous. The implication may also be that doing anything is better than nothing. In any case, if the Roundtable thought the current plans on the table (Senate Finance and the House Energy & Commerce bills) were problematic, they would out lobbying hard against them. They aren’t – and here we have evidence that they are pushing for action in spite of Republican criticism.

It’ll be interesting to see how that constituency plays out through next year’s Congressional elections in terms of financing.

The “Morning Fizz” at Publicola has this insight worth clicking through. One of those little “blips” in the market that might be good to store in your memory banks for later use.

“I hate to be cynical, but check out how health insurance industry stocks did on Wednesday morning after Sen. Max Baucus released his health care reform plan.”

Senator Cantwell is fully engaged on healthcare reform.

Admittedly, this isn’t journalistic objectivity talking. This is after having worked with her and her staff on reform through the summer. As a member of the Finance Committee, she has been in the weeds on the details of the reform conversation for the last 10 months since it started in the Senate Finance committee.

However, after seeing this quote posted on Facebook by my friend, Derek Birnie, I appreciate even more her engagement.

Cantwell on Baucus bill: “I wouldn’t vote for a bill that doesn’t have Medicare reform and the public option… What would I tell the people in Washington state?”

The quote comes from an article in the Miami Herald, of all places, by Les Blumenthal. Blumenthal has been on the DC beat for the Tacoma News Tribune and McClatchy Newspapers for years. I haven’t seen the piece printed in the NW yet. Here is the crux of why she is tackling Medicare:

Cantwell and the other Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation have long-insisted any reform bill has to include changes in the Medicare reimbursement formula. Medicare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals in Washington state are among the lowest in the nation. The current formula punishes states like Washington which have efficient health care systems and rewards those that have inefficient systems, Cantwell said.


If the efficiencies already adopted by Washington state were imposed nationally, Cantwell said it could save Medicare roughly $100 billion a year.

I’ll have more on how the northwest gets hammered by inequities in Medicare reimbursements later. Until then, this Senate floor speech by Senator Cantwell has a good, if longish, explanation.

This morning President Barack Obama gave another speech at a healthcare rally in College Park, Maryland. This speech was far more interactive than most recent speeches he has delivered. He also presented a far lighter tone, having to pause for laughter nearly twenty times during the speech.

Hello, Maryland! Thank you. Thank you, College Park. Thank you so much. It is good to be back at the University of Maryland. I want to start by wishing The Fridge and the Terps good luck on the game this weekend. Maybe I’ll even rub Testudo’s nose before I leave.

(more…)

Publicola has a post analyzing a News Busters article which includes a highlight of Washington Congressional Republicans Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dave “I didn’t mean to sit in front of Joe Wilson” Reichert.

A good read.

Good to read. Straight to the point.