"The failures of our current system are already costing us billions. If we do nothing and let health care continue on its current course, the cost would be greater than the cure," writes SEIU President Andy Stern yesterday on NationalJournal.com's Health Care Expert Blog.
Read the rest of Stern's response addressing the real cost of health reform:
As it is, health care costs are going up every year, threatening the economic security of working families and hurting business productivity. As costs rise, more and more Americans are forced to drop their health coverage -- resulting in people getting sicker, showing up at hospitals without insurance, and driving up costs for everyone. Meanwhile, U.S. business spending on health care is nearly twice as much per person as our OECD competitors. The longer we wait to fix health care, the worse it will get.
That's why Sen. Baucus's "Call to Action" is so timely -- and such an important step to move this process forward. We at SEIU were especially pleased to see strong support for access and coverage -- including a public plan option that ensures coverage for every American -- plus, strategies for cost containment, payment and delivery system reform, transparency, and more options for long-term care. We agree that the only way to fix the problem is to address access, quality, and cost together.
The New America Foundation estimates that our economy loses as much as $200 billion a year because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured -- far more than the price of reform.
So, if it's cost we're talking about, we can't afford not to fix health care.
Check out Andy Stern's post on National Journal here - and then please make the pledge to help keep health care on the map in 2009.
