December 16, 2007

Health care costs and the nation's long term budget outlook

Congressional Budget Office director Peter Orszag gave his long-term budget outlook to a congressional budget committee this week.

For anyone with a pulse, there was nothing surprising in the report:

"...rising costs for health care and the aging of the U.S. population will cause federal spending to grow rapidly. If federal revenues as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) remain at their current level, that rise in spending will eventually cause future budget deficits to become unsustainable."

A better read may be Orszag's November report, The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending.

Posted by schwitz at December 16, 2007 09:31 AM | TrackBack
Comments

You're of course right.

There is nothing much we seem to be able to do, other than calling this situation to the attention of folks.

Keep up the good work.

Bill

Posted by: Bill Gleason at December 16, 2007 09:57 AM

Universal Healthcare - is it the answer?

I personally would rather see the United States adopt a Healthcare System that results in long waits at the doctor's office, clinics and hospitals - as opposed to our nation's current Healthcare System which often results in no visit to the doctor, clinic or hospital at all.

In our current System, people are too concerned with not being able to pay healthcare related bills. Therefore, they try their hardest to avoid going to a doctor, clinic or hospital.

Whereas, in Canada, long waits at the doctor's office, clinics and hospitals are nothing new because people are encouraged to go having no financial drawbacks.

Universal Healthcare promotes early detection. I'll save this topic for another day!

Posted by: William Hill at December 17, 2007 11:03 PM
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