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The Business of Health Care Report
Today, our discussion focuses on
health care policy, an emerging issue in the 2004 presidential campaign. With the election less than a year
away, national health care reform is becoming a major campaign issue. In recent months,
seven candidates, including President Bush, have made proposals to extend health insurance
coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The growing numbers of uninsured,
rapid growth in health care costs and economic insecurity are the factors that gave
rise to widespread public support for health care reform in the 1992 presidential
campaign. After a brief period of decline, the number of Americans without health
insurance climbed to 43.6 million in 2002 -- 2.4 million more than a year earlier.
Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the nation at 24 percent. In addition, after health care
costs grew more slowly than historical rates during the 1990s, expenditures are once
again rising at a rapid pace. Health insurance premiums also are on the rise and, in
the context of a weak labor market -- the economy has lost more than 2 million jobs
since January 2001 -- employers are increasing cost-sharing, limiting benefits and
shifting more financial risk to employees. The Institutes of Medicine estimates
that such a large number of people without health coverage costs the United States $65
to $130 billion a year, mostly from lower earnings due to lost productivity and reduced
educational achievement. Over the past year, health care
industry leaders, physicians, scholars and elected officials have responded to the
growing distress with proposals for action. With opinion polls showing that health
care is once again running high on the list of public concerns, the 2004 presidential
candidates are proposing their own solutions to the nation's health care problems. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO
Doug Hawthorne
with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD.
©
2003 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 