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Central Government, Healthcare, Policy

Obama: healthcare cost-cuts can amount to US$3 tril

By Alice Kok | 12 May 2009

US President Barack Obama has won a big victory in his battle to reform the American healthcare system. Some former opponents of reform are now offering their support.

After meeting with industry representatives at the White House, Obama said they have promised to limit health care costs. The president says they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national healthcare spending by 1.5 per cent each year over the next decade.

Obama said that amounts to a savings of more than US$2 trillion.

“These groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment,” said Obama.

If those limits are realised, they would benefit not just consumers, but also the federal government which subsidises health care for the elderly and the poor.

According to Obama, this industry pledge is an important first step in his effort to reform the healthcare system.

“The nation can no longer wait. What has brought us all together today is the recognition that we cannot continue down the same dangerous road we have been travelling for so many years, that costs are out of control, and that reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait,” said Obama.

The pledge from the healthcare industry marks a shift from the stand taken by many providers and insurers in 1993, when they blocked a reform effort launched by then President Bill Clinton.

President Obama is urging Congress to pass a reform bill by the end of the year, and by showing a willingness to trim costs analysts say the industry is securing a place for itself at the bargaining table.

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