HHS report outlines 'urgent need for health reform'

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services predicts that without reform, health costs will account for 25 percent of GDP by 2025 and 49 percent  by 2082  (Source: “Healthcare reform vital, U.S. health agency says,” Reuters, March 30, 2009).

According to the report “The Cost of Inaction: The Urgent Need for Health Reform,” which is a compilation of dozens of studies, the cost of health care doubled between 1996 and 2006. The United States spent about $2.2 trillion on health care in 2007, or 16.2 percent of GDP, the report found. That total equals $7,421 per person in the U.S.

"Today's report outlines the high cost of waiting to fix a system that has left too many Americans without the affordable, quality care they deserve," HHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus said in a statement.