The newly
released report on health care costs released by accounting giant Price
Waterhouse Coopers and paid for by the insurance lobby, America’s Health Insurance
Plans, is just one more industry scare tactic, according to the good
government and consumer group OSPIRG.
“This last-ditch attempt to derail reform would be laughable if it weren’t so
predictable,” stated Laura Etherton, OSPIRG's health policy advocate.
Issued on
the eve of a vote in the Senate Finance Committee, the report claims that the
pending health reform legislation would increase, not decrease, typical family
premiums.
“You could
drive a truck through the holes in the industry’s argument here,” said
Etherton.
The
report's flaws include explicitly excluding analysis of the many provisions in
the bill that would bring down the cost of care, such as delivery reforms,
affordability tax credits, and increased competition in insurance exchanges.
A recent
report from OSPIRG came to a conclusion that stands in stark opposition to the
health insurance industry-funded document. The
Three Trillion Dollar Question identified $2.8 trillion in
potential economic savings from robust health reform.
In
addition, the Commonwealth
Fund and the non-partisan Congressional
Budget Office (PDF) have concluded separately that health reform could
generate real reductions in national health spending.
OSPIRG has
endorsed the health reform bills advanced by the House of Representatives and
the Senate HELP Committee. Its recent Health
Reform Report Card gave the Senate Finance bill a “B” for
cost-containment, praising strong payment reforms but criticizing the lack of a
strong public health insurance option.
