If yesterday's graphic didn't scare you, this one might help you get the gist of why REAL healthare reform is critical to the costs your organization incurs for healthcare, as well as for the entire country, and especially for the taxpayers (and your children/grandchildren) that will foot the burden of out-of-control healthcare cost growth.

Some may ask why I'm on a soapbox about healthcare reform recently, and the answer is really quite simple.  Healthcare reform, without real reform, is just another way to pump even more money into the machine that is slowly but surely bankrupting our country. 

The current plans on the table, while offering some "mini" reforms, basically just pump another trillion or so dollars into the same high margin, fee-for-service machine that has led to a never-ending spiral of cost increases several times the overall rate of inflation for the past few decades (even in the 2008-2009 economic slump, the worst in decades, healthcare costs are expected to rise in low double digits annually, even while consumers are cutting back on medical care!).

Of course, most Americans are concerned about what come out of their pocket for care, and that's understandable.  But what I believe many fail to realize is someone is paying for all the care that you're not paying for, and those "someones" are your employer, your government, your children and grandchildren, and you (indirectly, through taxes and deficits).

So, even if you think you're not paying for it, you really are, because it is built into the cost of the goods you buy, the massive deficits we're racking up, higher cost your employers are paying (which otherwise might go towards pay increases or hiring, but those costs are diverted to healthcare instead).

The healthcare crisis in America is not going away, with or without the current plans on the table.  It's time for all Americans to demand real reform (at least if you're concerned about the world you, your children and grandchildren will live in, in the the coming decades).  Reform that will restrict and/or eliminate the current fee-for-service model, and move towards evidence-based treatments, outcome-based payments, best-practice models, and yes, even some reasoned rationing, because everybody can't have everything they want (at little or no out-of-pocket cost, of course) and not expect the costs to soar.

I feel better, now that I've blown off some steam!  Please do you part.  This really is a crisis, even if you don't feel it yet.

Scariest Graphic Ever - Healthcare Costs!

If looking at this graphic doesn't scare you, then either you've been living in a cave, or must not care to much about the future of our country.

Healthcare costs are swallowing up an ever-growing percentage of our country's total spending, currently between 16% and 18% of GDP (depending on the study).  If current trends continue, healthcare spending will hit 20% of GDP in a few short years (yes, that's one of every five dollars spent in the U.S. is being spent on healthcare alone).

Healthcare is bankrupting this country, and it's time for everyone to become more informed and involved.  For a couple of good summaries of the issues and proposals, see this article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required) "Ten Questions on the Health-Care Overhaul."  Another great overview most recent healthcare proposals coming out of Washington DC comes from the Terri Albee of the Compensation Cafe'. See her post here.

Don't let the special interests (and there are lots of them) rule your future.  Read up and speak up now!

If you see any real healthcare cost containment going on, please let me (and the rest of the country) know.

Each year some major consulting firms and others conduct their annual healthcare cost studies, and while the trends seemed to be moving toward slightly lower annual increases (down to the upper single digits, from the low double digit percentage annual increases), the last two studies I've seen are predicting roughly 10% annual increases in healthcare cost for 2009 and 2010, in the middle of major a major recession with virtually no (non-healthcare) inflation!

For instance the Buck Consultants 20th National Health Care Trend Survey is predicting between 10% and 11% annual increases (depending on plan type) for 2009 and 2010.  In other words, while wages are are flat to down in real (post-inflation) terms and companies suffering from falling sales and profits, somehow, healthcare can increase 10% in cost.

I've been reading about how many consumers are delaying going to the doctor, and not electing to have elective procedures done, but costs still go up 10%?  Somewhere I recall hearing about this concept called "the law of supply and demand," but apparently I was mistaken about that!

Healthcare costs for employers have more than doubled since the turn of the century and employee's out-of-pocket cost have tripled. Healthcare is slowly bankrupting our country.

I'm not a fan of government intervention in the free market, or of government-provided healthcare, but something has to be done.  In 1980, healthcare was about 9% of GDP, and in 2009 it will be approximately 18%.  We're heading toward 20% of GDP being spent on healthcare in this country within a few years.  Yes, you read correctly, one out of every five dollars spent in this country, will be spent on healthcare alone.