Today the Pelican Institute released a new study, “The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Louisiana Perspective”. The report considers the impact of President Obama’s proposed reforms. The full report is worth reading (and the executive summary provides a good overview), but one of the key conclusions is that expanding the government’s role in the health care market would:

  • Increase national health care expenditures by an additional 8.9 percent by 2019;
  • Increase medical price inflation by 5.2 percent above what it would have been otherwise by 2019;
  • Increase total federal expenditures by 5.6 percent over the next decade, creating an additional $285.6 billion deficit in 2019 assuming the extra expenditures are not financed by a tax increase;
  • Reduce U.S. economic growth in 2019 by 4.9 percent – and Louisiana’s growth by 4.3 percent – when compared to the baseline scenario.
  • When combining the increased federal and state government health care spending with the escalation in health care costs, the current net present value of funding health care reform based on President Obama’s priorities will be $4,427paid by every person in Louisiana.

The report also outlines a more sensible agenda for reform, including policies that would encourage individual ownership of insurance policies, leveraging of Health Savings Accounts, allowing the interstate purchase of insurance, reducing the number of mandated benefits, reallocating much Medicaid spending into vouchers, and reforming tort liability laws. Read the full report and share it with a friend!