SPECIAL REPORT: Robert Severs, CEO, Managed Care Systems LP
| Thursday, May 28 2009 06:25 PM
Last Updated Thursday, May 28 2009 06:25 PM
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Robert Severs
Double-digit health insurance premiums continue to plague national and local businesses, and no relief has been seen for several years. The cost of health care increased 100 percent from 1996 to 2006.
Health-care costs are predicted to be 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2025, and 49 percent by 2082. The reasons are multiple and very complicated and they will not necessarily be eliminated with any reform movement.
Some of the major concepts being discussed as part of the national debate over health-care reform are: (1) mandating employers to provide coverage; (2) creating a public health plan similar to Medicare; (3) taxing health-care benefits (revenue enhancement); (4) requiring all Americans to carry health coverage either through an employer sponsored plan, the public health plan or private insurance. Moving toward reducing the number of uninsured should provide some rate relief for employers currently providing health insurance for their employees.
Whatever “reform” takes place I am very pessimistic that it will reduce costs for businesses across the country. The reason: Controlling health-care costs will not happen by government intervention or necessarily through competition of public plans versus private plans. Yes, advocacy of electronic medical records, promoting wellness and providing greater access to insurance will have positive impacts on cost.
Real reform will only come from within the health-care system itself and with more consumer participation. While it is a highly contentious subject, most experts are now saying that unless we change “the amount” of health care we consume we will never solve the problem.
Estimates today are that 30 percent to 35 percent of health-care services are totally unnecessary. Unless we eliminate this amount or redirect the consumption to the previously uninsured, it is very unlikely businesses will see reductions in the cost of health care.
