Obama, Congress begin push for health reform

President Obama is expected to announce today that House Democrats have pledged to pass a health reform bill by July 31 (Source: “Obama to Announce Health Care Reform Deal,” FoxNews.com, May 13, 2009).

Today’s announcement is not expected to include any details on specific legislation. The most polarizing aspect of any potential reform package is the potential inclusion of a so-called “public option.” Three potential designs for a government plan are being floated in the Senate, including one that would resemble Medicare and be administered by the federal government, one that is similar to Medicare but would be run by an outside party and the third option is have each state develop its own public insurance plan (Source: “Public coverage methods on table,” Columbus Dispatch, May 9, 2009).

Obama’s announcement about an accelerated Congressional timeline for health reform comes two days after health care industry officials pledged to cut spending by $2 trillion over 10 years However, there are some questions being raised about whether those cost savings will ever be realized (Source: “Health savings: Real or illusory?” Columbus Dispatch, May 12, 2009).

At the same time, a new report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds released its annual report, which projects that by 2017 expenses for Medicare will outpace tax revenues for Medicare’s trust fund (Source: “Medicare,Social Sec Trusts Dwindling Faster Than Expected,” Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2009).

The 2017 projection for Medicare’s insolvency is two years sooner than what was projected in the 2008 report. The trustees include Treseary Secretary Timothy Geitner, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Medicare’s “cost growth can be contained without sacrificing quality of care only if health care cost growth more generally is contained,” the report asserted. “But despite the difficulties—indeed, because of the difficulties—it is essential that action be taken soon, particularly to control health care costs.”