President Obama has made health reform a top priority for the nation. In addition to the initial investments enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the president has included a $634 billion health reform reserve fund in his 2010 budget as a downpayment on health reform, leaving the legislative details to Congress. Comprehensive reform will likely require an investment of $1 trillion or more over the 2010--19 period to achieve coverage for all and implement critical system reforms. This report examines policy options that could slow growth in health spending, improve health outcomes, and provide additional revenues to finance comprehensive reform. It also illustrates how widely estimates of policy options can vary based on underlying assumptions. The rich menu of options presented here, along with impact estimates, should help policy leaders identify the resources required to make health coverage for all and improved health system performance a reality.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)