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White Paper .pdf [164k]
A Model for Saving Public School Health Care Dollars
Through Large Claim Polling, Increased Competition and Improving Health Care Quality August 10,2005 Health care spending, by several measures, continues to rise at the fastest rate in US history. Total national health expenditures increased by 7.7 percent in 2003 (the latest year that data is available) over 2002 - four times the rate of inflation in 2003. 1 In 2004, employer health insurance premiums increased by 11.2 percent - nearly four times the rate of inflation.2 Double digit, or near double digit increases are projected to continue. While the United States spends more on health care than other industrialized countries, the US does not rank among the highest in terms of health outcomes or coverage. For example, "healthy" life expectancy in the US is nearly the lowest of the 23 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.3 Only the Czech Republic has a lower rate than the US. With 45 million uninsured Americans, the US is the only industrialized nation that does not provide health insurance to all their citizens.4 The US health care system suffers from a significant quality chasm that is well documented by the Institute of Medicine and leading researchers. This chasm is evidenced by the nearly 98,000 deaths per year that result from avoidable medical errors.5 The Centers for Disease Control estimates that each year 2 million patients acquire an infection in the hospital and that nearly 90,000 of those patients will die as a result of the infection.6 Outpatient care is also not without its problems. A recent study by RAND found that only 54.9% of the time patients received the recommended, evidence-based health care for their preventive, acute or chronic condition.7 The response to the cost and quality problems in the US should be one that is formulated on a sound healthcare policy and truly addresses the issues that plague the system. Healthcare should be a right, not a luxury. Employees who already have significant co-pays and premium shares should not have more and more of their hard earned dollars going to insurance, health care providers and pharmaceutical company profits. Employers should not have to pay to cover the cost of healthcare for employees of companies that fail to do so. The percent of private sector with health care benefits dropped by 1/3 over the past 13 years and the erosion of jobs with health care coverage appears to be accelerating.8 |
