Health Care Spending to Increase

One of the promises made when President Barack Obama was pushing his health care reform initiative was that there would be no increased health care costs. Well, now that it’s passed, things are starting to look a bit different.

According to a report just released by the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, the new law will increase projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years, to a total of  $311 billion from 2010-2019. This amounts to more than $35 trillion over the next decade.

This is far from the cost savings projected by the President.

In all fairness, the White House acknowledged that some of the cost-control measures in the bill won’t take effect immediately. Cost saving incentives like Medicare cuts, a tax on high-cost insurance and a commission to seek ongoing Medicare savings are supposed to lower costs.

But this is all after 2020. It could help but there’s no guarantee, especially knowing that Medicare costs are rarely cut. If Medicare were actually cut, it could prove to be grave. Many hospitals are already struggling and cutting funding could force many into the red or worse. Health care for seniors would be greatly jeopardized by these cost-cutting measures.

This legislation is already proving to be unsustainable. Right now, the US spends $2.5 trillion on health care, far more than any other country, based on per capita. Now we can expect to spend more in the following decade, and possibly beyond.