NEW YORK, Feb 19, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Meaningful healthcare reform could
result in affordable insurance coverage, improved outcomes and slower spending,
officials of a foundation said.
A report released by The Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance
Health System details the non-profit organization's recommendations for an
integrated set of policies and assesses the impacts of specific policy actions
from 2010-2020, compared with the status quo.
Dr. James J. Mongan, chairman of the commission, said many of these reforms will
be politically difficult, but are necessary to put the U.S. health system on a
different path. Ensuring coverage and improving quality, while also achieving
savings, can be accomplished, in large part, through payment changes that reward
efficiency and penalize waste.
"Our healthcare system currently falls far short of what we should expect,
despite pockets of excellence," Mongan said in a statement. "Too often
incentives reward more care, rather than better outcomes."
A central recommendation is to create a national insurance exchange that would
offer a choice of private plans and a new public plan, coupled with insurance
reforms that would make coverage affordable, ensure access, and lower
administrative costs, Mongan said.
The United States is expected to spend $42 trillion on healthcare over the next
11 years, with spending rising 6.7 percent per year, but by payment and
information system reforms, the increase in spending could slow to 5.5 percent
per year, the report said.
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Copyright 2009 by United Press International