Report details options for saving billions of dollars on health-care spending
A report released by the New York State Health Foundation recommends a number of measures the state could take to reduce projected cumulative health-care spending in the state of up to $2.5 trillion in the next decade. The state’s annual health-care costs are expected to reach $318.8 billion by 2020, nearly $130 billion more than the projected costs for this fiscal year, according to the report, which was written by the Lewin Group. The state is expecting continued multi-billion-dollar deficits in the coming years.
“Bending the cost curve in New York state is not only possible but necessary, considering the projected growth of New York’s health-care spending over the next 10 years,” James Knickman, Health Foundation president and CEO, said in a statement. “This shows that it’s possible to reduce costs by reforming the ways we deliver and pay for care. Blunt, across-the-board reimbursement rate cuts are not the only way.”
Ten options presented in the report could save anywhere from $350 million to $49.8 billion each in the 10-year period. They include:
—Enacting a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, which would significantly reduce spending on the treatment of obesity, diabetes and related illnesses. It could save the state $5.6 billion over 10 years. (Gov. David Paterson has proposed such a tax, in part to raise significant revenue for the state, but there has been strong opposition to it in the Legislature.)
—Expanding hospital-based programs to treat pain could save up to $11.9 billion over the decade.
—Modernizing primary care by coordinating patient care through medical homes, better management of chronic illnesses or rewarding medical providers for improving health outcomes could save between $1.3 billion to $33.7 billion if all payers participated.
“If we do not rein in health care expenditures by bolstering the quality and efficiency of care, the expansion of health-care coverage will quickly become unsustainable,” David Sandman, the foundation’s senior vice president, said.
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Though seeking ways to reduce health costs is absolutely required, raising taxes on sodas is not a means to reduce health costs unless those dollars collected are directed towards prevention efforts or are used to subsidize the consumption of healthier beverages. By themselves they will not be effective, just like taxes on cigarettes don’t reduce smoking. Numerous research efforts have determined that carrots work better than sticks at persuading people.
Stop with these phony, self-serving “reports” that do nothing but attempt to discretely disguise their wishes for more taxes and more funding for themselves.
This study provides some useful ideas.
Unfortunately, it fails to address the issue of the tremendous cost savings that would be acheived by eliminating the huge waste and costs associated with our present system of private health insurance – something unfortunately Congress has decided to greatly expand. Nationally, eliminating the role of insurance companies – something most other countries have done – could save us $400 billion a year.
A recent study funded by the NYS Legislature concluded that a state single payer system would cut costs by $20 billion a year by 2019 compared to the present system – and $28 billion a year compared to the individual mandate to buy private insurance that Democrats passed in Congress last March.
As Governor, I will propose a single payer system for NY.
I will also push to reform the NY Health Foundation which funded this study to me supportive of real health care reform.
As governor of what – your lawn maintenance?