Health Care
New Report Identifies Over $7 Billion in Health Care Savings for Alaska
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.”
Health Reform Could Mean Jobs, Economic Growth in Alaska
Health care reform means more than health care – it could mean more jobs and stronger
economic growth here in Alaska.
As the health reform debate heats up in Washington, new research suggests that health
reform could have real impact closer to home. An Alaska Public Interest Research
Group Research Brief, entitled Health Reform and the Economy, finds that proposals to
tame health care costs could allow the creation of 5,885 Alaskan jobs over a five year
period without inflationary effects, and yield stronger economic growth over the long
term.
AKPIRG Healthcare Research Brief
Every year, Alaskans pay more and more but get less and less for their health care dollar. The average total cost of an employer-sponsored family health plan in 2008 was $12,680 and is projected to nearly double by 2016.
America’s health care system is structured for drug industry, insurance company, and medical specialty profits, not better health care for American families. Alaska PIRG will be fighting for health care reform legislation that:
1. Protect families’ financial health by reducing the growth of health care premiums;
2. Make health coverage affordable by cutting administrative waste, inefficiencies and unnecessary tests and services;
3. Lay out a clear path for all Americans to afford health care
4. Provide portability of coverage so that people don’t lose their coverage when their employment status changes;
5. Guarantee choice of health plans and physicians while allowing people to keep their employer-provided coverage;
6. Invest in prevention and wellness programs that reduce the key cost drivers in the system like obesity and smoking and guarantee access to preventative treatments;
7. Improve patient safety and quality care; and,
8. Maintain long-term fiscal sustainability by reducing long-term cost growth, eliminating inefficiencies, and finding new sources of revenue.
As the new Congress and Administration take up health reform, AKPIRG will be fighting to make health care work and win basic guarantees for all American consumers, including:
- A guarantee that you, and your employer, can afford to pay for health care, and
- A guarantee that your coverage can’t be denied when you change jobs, get sick, or have a pre-existing condition.
We can’t wait for affordable, dependable health care for Alaskans. Call your elected officials and tell them fixing health care costs and guaranteeing protections for consumers should be at the top of their agenda this year.
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK)
CALL: 202-224-3004
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
CALL: 202-224-6665
Rep. Don Young (R-AK-AL)
CALL: 202-225-5765
