AARP: CBO Report on Health Care Spending Helps Determine Some – But Not All – Costs of Reform
Source: AARP Press Center | 2008-12-18
December 18, 2008
Contact: Jordan McNerney 202-434-2560 jmcnernery@aarp.org
WASHINGTON—AARP Executive Vice President John Rother issued the following statement in response to the latest series of health care reports released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this morning:
“Today’s CBO reports make abundantly clear that without comprehensive reform we will see even more out-of-control health care cost increases and more Americans added to the ranks of the uninsured. This must change.
“CBO, Acting Director Robert Sunshine and former Director Peter Orszag have performed a valuable service by taking a comprehensive look at the financial implications of various elements of health reform proposals and offered much food for thought on the variety of options available to broaden coverage, reform the delivery system, and generate revenues to help pay for reform. We are pleased to see the breadth of ideas considered.
“It’s important to remember that CBO estimates costs and savings to the government, not to patients and consumers. We need to balance their hard work with a broader assessment of ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our health system to all parties, not just the government.
“AARP is particularly encouraged by the discussion of efforts to reform payment systems to improve quality and value, increase research to find the most effective treatments, promote health information technology and make affordable coverage available to every American.
“It will take a combination of policy and behavior changes to begin to achieve our goal of a higher value system that protects all Americans. There is no magic bullet, but this report shows that there are many ideas that, when combined, can give us the tools to benefit consumers, businesses, providers and taxpayers. We need to move aggressively forward in 2009 to put these ideas into practice to create guaranteed affordable health care for everyone.”
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