A new analysis of health reform bills in Congress prepared for the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System shows that many current congressional healthcare proposals could significantly reduce the number of uninsured Americans and also decrease overall healthcare expenditures, including those for insurance administration and prescription drugs.
Rep. Pete Stark’s (D-Calif.) AmeriCare proposal, which would open the Medicare program to everyone, would cover nearly all of the uninsured, as would Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D-Ore.) Healthy Americans Act, which would help people purchase coverage through large regional insurance exchanges. President Bush’s plan would cover one in five uninsured Americans. The Stark proposal would cost the federal government $154.5 billion in 2007 but reduce overall health spending by $60.7 billion because of savings in insurance administration and prescription drugs. The Wyden proposal would increase federal spending by $24.3 billion in 2007 and reduce overall health spending by $4.5 billion, partly through insurance administration savings. Bush’s plan would cost the federal government $70.4 billion in 2007 and reduce health system spending by $11.7 billion as people would reduce their use of health services.
