AKPIRG Identifies $7 Billion Health Care Savings for Alaska
Published: August 7th, 2009
Anchorage, AK — Health care reform can save the nation $3 trillion, with billions of dollars of benefits for every state in the union, according to a new report released today by the Alaska Public Interest Research Group (AKPIRG).
“Over the past decade, Congress has sat on the sidelines while premiums have doubled,” said AKPIRG Director Gabe Aceves. “We know how to get skyrocketing costs under control – now it’s time for Congress to step up and pass the strong cost-saving policies that Alaska needs.”
The new report, The $3 Trillion Question: What Health Care Reform Can Save For Families, Businesses and Taxpayers, provides estimates for how much various cost-saving proposals can reduce health spending – all while improving the quality of the care we receive. It also endorses a proposal that would bring down costs and sidestep political gridlock by empowering a new independent commission, made up of doctors and health care experts to adopt the reforms that can incentivize the highest-quality, most efficient care.
Among the potential savings identified in the report:
Streamlining health care billing and cutting red tape can reduce $350 billion of waste.
Adoption of health information technology and electronic medical records can save $180 billion.
Investing in unbiased research into the best treatments, drugs, and devices can save $480 billion.
Creating a public health insurance option to compete on a level playing field with private insurers will reduce national costs by $230 billion or more.
These reforms would save Alaska more than $7 BILLION over the next decade.
“Lawmakers are wrangling over how to fund the federal investment in reform,” continued Aceves. “But the $1 trillion price tag is two to three times smaller than the potential economic benefits to the country as a whole. Letting a fear of federal outlays weaken reform legislation will leave our families and businesses out to dry.”
