Obama: Health Costs Are ‘Biggest Driver of Long-Term Deficits’

Friday, March 27, 2009

By Jacob Goldstein
At his press conference last night, President Obama continued to hammer on what’s been his central health theme lately: Cutting costs.
“[I]t is going to be an impossible task for us to balance our budget if we’re not taking on rising health care costs,” he said, adding that “huge” health care costs are the “biggest driver of long-term deficits,” according to a transcript.

Later, he said that “the problem is not just in government-run programs. The problem is in the private sector, as well. It’s experienced by families. It’s experienced by businesses.”
And he gave a quick rundown of policies he argues “may cost money on the front end, but offer the prospect of reducing costs on the back end.” Those include expanding health IT and preventive care, and paying doctors and hospitals “on the basis of improved quality, as opposed to how many procedures you’re doing.”

Health-policy types talk all the time about trying to save money while improving care. Given the inefficiencies in our health-care system, you’d think it would be doable. Pilot projects like this one suggest it’s pretty tough — though maybe not impossible — in the real world.