WASHINGTON, D.C. — Fixing the economy means fixing the nation’s health care system (pdf), according to a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
The report is just what the Obama administration needs to sell Americans on a sweeping social welfare program during a recession, according to an Associated Press story published in the Washington Examiner.
The president’s economic advisers say we’re headed for disaster unless we slow the growth rate of health care costs. But if we slow this rate by just 1.5 percentage points per year, we could increase output (gross domestic product) by more than 2 percent in 2020 and nearly 8 percent in 2030.
Behavioral Health, Interoperability and eConsent: Meeting the Demands of CMS Final Rule Compliance
In a webinar on April 16 at 1pm ET, Aneesh Chopra will moderate a discussion with executives from DocuSign, Velatura, and behavioral health providers on eConsent, health information exchange and compliance with the CMS Final Rule on interoperability.
This slowing of cost growth would result in $2,600 more in income in 2020 and almost $10,000 more in 2030 for a family of four, the council said. It could “prevent disastrous increases in the federal budget deficit.” And it could lower the unemployment rate “by approximately one-quarter of a percentage point for a number of years,” according to the council’s report.
In addition, extending health care insurance to the uninsured “would increase net economic well-being by roughly $100 billion a year, which is roughly two-thirds of a percent of GDP.
Reform also likely would increase the labor supply, remove barriers to moving from job to job, and help level the playing field between big and small businesses, the report said.
Critics were quick to dismiss the report, the AP said.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“Everyone agrees that reducing the cost of health care would benefit our economy, but the administration hasn’t offered a credible plan to do so without raising taxes or rationing care,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.
More stories worth a read:
- Cost controls: Docs, hospitals, insurers, labor & industry (Wall Street Journal Health blog)
- Healthcare industry sends proposals to Obama (Mass Device)
- The winner is? (Kaiser Foundation’s Insureblog)
- Igenix acquires AIM Healthcare Services (BusinessWire)
- Transoma Medical receives FDA marketing clearance for exclusive  capability providing immediate access to critical ECGs on mobile handheld device (BusinessWire)
- The health-care industry’s new hope: Patient-centered care (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Cleveland Clinic billing error a recurring pain for patients (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
- Medical marijuana a longshot for Ohio (Toledo Blade)
- Healthcare industry labors mightily, brings forth a mouse (BNET Health)
- Pharma split on nature of mergers as kill or cure (Financial Times)
- Community Health buys remaining shares of Ohio hospital (Nashville Business Journal)
- MedImmune wins $90M swine flu vaccine contract (FierceBiotech)
- Pharmacies use incentives to attract new customers (Drug Topics)
- Transcend Medical sees $20M for glaucoma device (VentureBeat) Â
- Cell Therapeutics’ lymphoma drug boosts remissions, shares boom (Xconomy | Seattle)
- Microsoft, dipping toe deeper into life sciences, buys Rosetta assets from Merck (Xconomy | Seattle)
- Fitch: Investor-owned hospitals have strong operating earnings (FierceHealthcare)
- HFMA releases model charity-care policy for non-profits (FierceHealthcare)
[White House photo by Pete Souza]
