Healthcare cost

“ The Federal Government must and will respond to clear-cut national needs--for this and future generations.
Hospital and medical services in America are among the best in the world, but the cost of a serious and extended illness can quickly wipe out a family's lifetime savings. Increasing health costs are of deep concern to all and a powerful force pushing up the cost of living. The burden of catastrophic illness can be borne by very few in our society. We must eliminate this fear from every family.
I propose catastrophic health insurance for everybody covered by Medicare. ”

“ It's not right. And until we give all Americans health care that's always there and control the cost, the health care crisis will continue to bankrupt our businesses, our families, and eventually our Nation. ”

“ Health care costs are rising at the slowest rate in fifty years. And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we've made to our health care system - that covers as many people at less cost - I will publicly support it. ”

“ Half a century ago, America found itself in the midst of another health care crisis. For millions of elderly Americans, the single greatest cause of poverty and hardship was the crippling cost of their health care. A third of all elderly Americans lived in poverty, and nearly half had no health insurance.
As health care and hospital costs continued to rise, more and more private insurers simply refused to insure our elderly, believing they were too great of a risk to care for. ”

“ The current concern about the cost of medical care and resorting to government-run insurance programs and regulations will do little or nothing to reverse the trend to more and more sickness that costs more and more to treat. ”

“ Third, we will reduce the cost of our health care by improving the quality of our health care.
It's estimated that poor quality care currently costs us up to $100 billion a year. One study found that in Pennsylvania, Medicare spent $1 billion a year just on treating infections that patients contracted while at the hospital - infections that could have easily been prevented by hospitals. This study led hospitals across the state to take action, and today some have completely eliminated infections that used to take hundreds of lives and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. ”

“ Inflation in health care costs remains unacceptably high. Throughout my Administration, legislation to reduce health care cost inflation was one of my highest priorities, but was not passed by the Congress. Therefore, my FY 1982 budget proposes sharing the responsibility for health care cost control with the private sector, through voluntary hospital cost guidelines and intensified monitoring. ”

“ For the sake of America's small businesses, workers, and families, we must also make health care more affordable and accessible. A new product known as Health Savings Accounts helps control costs by allowing businesses or workers to buy low-cost insurance policies for catastrophic events and then save, tax-free, for routine medical expenses. ”

“ The combination of the rising cost of care and the lack of care and the fear of losing care are endangering the security and the very lives of millions of our people. And they are weakening our economy every day. Reducing health care costs can liberate literally hundreds of billions of dollars for new investment in growth and jobs. Bringing health costs in line with inflation would do more for the private sector in this country than any tax cut we could give and any spending program we could promote. ”

“ We cannot realistically afford federally dictated national health insurance providing full coverage for all 215 million Americans. The experience of other countries raises questions about the quality as well as the cost of such plans. ”

“ In the meantime, for those Americans who can't get insurance today because they have pre-existing medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill. ”

“ And we cannot rest while millions of Americans do without affordable health care and many, many millions more worry that they won't be able to afford the cost of their health care policy or that they'll lose their health care coverage if they lose their job or someone in their family gets sick. ”

“ I-B The large number of individuals without health insurance, Congress found, heavily burdens the national health-care market. See 42 U.S.C. § 18091 (2) . As just noted, the cost of emergency care or treatment for a serious illness generally exceeds what an individual can afford to pay on her own. Unlike markets for most products, however, the inability to [p593] pay for care does not mean that an uninsured individual will receive no care. ”

“ Those 1,000 mandates that we have throughout the States, where we do have mandated health insurance plans, is driving up the cost of health care by about 35 percent. We need freedom. We need to allow people to buy their health care across state lines. That will bring down the cost of health care. ”

“ It should be accompanied by a system of government insurance, whereby all classes who desire to be thrifty may pay a small annual premium in the days of health, and secure adequate hospital treatment and care when ill. Provided that pay wings were added to the existing voluntary and municipal hospitals, it should be found that the relatively small annual premium of £3 per annum should enable the policyholders to defray the cost of medical treatment in a pay ward or at a consultation department of a great hospital as a matter of business. ”

“ In the past decade, premiums have doubled. Over the past few years, total out of pocket costs for people with insurance rose by a third. And we know that if we do not reform the system, this will only be a preview of coming attractions. A new report for the Business Roundtable – a non-partisan group that represents the CEOs of major companies – found that without significant reform, health care costs for these employers and their employees will well more than double again over the next decade. The cost per person for health insurance will rise by almost $18,000. ”

“ Now, because Medicare is such a big part of the health care system, making the program more efficient can help usher in changes in the way we deliver health care that can reduce costs for everybody. We have long known that some places, like the Intermountain Healthcare in Utah or the Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania, offer high-quality care at costs below average. ”

“ Congress also determined that the cost of
uncompensated care is passed on from providers “to private insurers, which pass on the
cost to families.” Id. This cost-shifting inflates the premiums that families must pay for
their health insurance “by on average over $1,000 a year.” Id. Rising premiums push
even more individuals out of the health insurance market, further increasing the cost of
health insurance and perpetuating the cycle. See 47 Million and Counting: Why the
Health Care Marketplace Is Broken: Hearing Before the S. Comm. ”

“ To manage the risks associated with medical care—its high cost, its unpredictability, and its inevitability—most people in the United States obtain health insurance. Many (approximately 170 million in 2009) are insured by private insurance companies. Others, including those over 65 and certain poor and disabled persons, rely on government-funded insurance programs, notably Medicare and Medicaid. Combined, private health insurers and State and Federal Governments finance almost 85% of the medical care administered to U.S. residents. ”

“ And tonight I propose that individuals who buy catastrophic health care coverage, as part of our new health savings accounts, be allowed to deduct 100 percent of the premiums from their taxes.
A government-run health care system is the wrong prescription. By keeping costs under control, expanding access, and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America's health care the best in the world.
We are living in a time of great change - in our world, in our economy, and in science and medicine. ”

“ Our cost-cutting measures mirror most of the proposals in the current Senate bill, which reduces most people’s premiums and brings down our deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next decade because we’re spending our health care dollars more wisely. ”

“ I have a health care plan that will cover every American and cut the cost of every family's premiums by up to $2500 a year. If you don't have health care, this plan will offer you coverage that's similar to the kind federal employees and members of Congress give themselves. If you do have health care, it will bring down your premiums by investing in information technology, and preventive care, and by stopping the drug companies from price-gouging when patients need their medicine. ”

“ Young, single adults will pay more, too, especially those who are in the best of health and don't see any reason to buy health insurance, the ones who, when they end up in the emergency room without insurance, pass those costs on to the rest of us.
For small businesses and people on very low wages, there will be discounts to make sure wedon't cost jobs or hurt people, but everybody should take some responsibility for their own health care. It's not fair to the rest of Americans when you don't. ”

“ Because of spiraling health care costs that are crushing our families, dragging down our entire economy, and represent one of the fastest-growing parts of our federal and state budgets, we've made a historic commitment to health care reform in this budget -- reform that brings us closer to the day when health care is affordable and accessible for every single American. ”

“ An awful lot of people who didn't think they could or would find quality, affordable health insurance are actually able to get assistance from the government to help them pay for their health care plans at a cheaper rate. ”

“ We're here today to discuss one of the greatest threats not just to the well-being of our families and the prosperity of our businesses, but to the very foundation of our economy -- and that's the exploding costs of health care in America today.
In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. An additional 9 million Americans have joined the ranks of the uninsured. ”

“ The average weekly cost under the present conditions per patient is three dollars and a half, or $3,500 for a State hospital of one thousand patients. Under the separate plan of treatment, the curable patients, numbering not more that eighty, could be maintained at a weekly cost of ten dollars per patient, or $800; the nine hundred and twenty chronic incurable patients could be humanely and kindly cared for at three dollars per week for each person, or $2,760, thus making the total cost of treatment, under probably the best conditions, 83,500. ”

“ We’ve brought more than 17 million Americans into our health care system, seen health care prices grow at the lowest rate in fifty years, and covered more than 90% of our people for the very first time. ”

“ And even though the rollout of the marketplace where you can buy affordable plans has been rough, so far, about 500,000 Americans are poised to gain health coverage starting January 1st. And by the way, health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years. ”

“ Then there's the problem of rising costs. We spend one-and-a-half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren't any healthier for it. This is one of the reasons that insurance premiums have gone up three times faster than wages. ”

“ Higher morbidity rates in particular cause health care utilization to grow over the long-term, increasing total health care expenditures by private insurers as well as public programs like Medicare and Medicaid. ”

“ Affordable Health Care All Americans should have universal access to quality, affordable health care -- not as a privilege, but as a right. That requires tough controls on health costs, which are rising at two to three times the rate of inflation, terrorizing American families and businesses and depriving millions of the care they need. We will enact a uniquely American reform of the health care system to control costs and make health care affordable ”

“ The system of prepaid medical care which I have recommended is expected eventually to require amounts equivalent to 4 percent of earnings up to $3,600 a year, which is about the average of present expenditures by individuals for medical care. The pooling of medical costs, under a plan which permits each individual to make a free choice of doctor and hospital, would assure that individuals receive adequate treatment and hospitalization when they are faced with emergencies for which they cannot budget individually. ”

“ My country is the richest in the world, but you will find it unbelievable that 46 million Americans cannot access proper healthcare as they lack medical insurance.
Medical insurance in America is privately funded. We do not have government hospitals as you do in your country. ”