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In Good Health?
Study estimates Georgia families could pay 77 percent more if federal health reform fails
by Walter C. Jones, Morris News Service
October 2, 2009
Georgia families and individuals should
expect to pay as much as 77 percent more on health care 10 years from now if federal reforms fail,
according to "The Cost of Failure to Enact Health Reform: Implications for States," a recently
released study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of Princeton, N.J. The study tries to put the
current debate in dollar terms for each state.
According to the
study, the premiums Georgia employers' pay would rise 116 percent, while taxpayer spending would
jump 115 percent for the Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids programs that cover the poor. It also
predicts that the percentage of uninsured Georgians would rise from 20 to 25 percent by the year
2019.
Lead researcher Bo Garrett says the study's goal was to move the current debate from the
various congressional proposals to the cost of enacting none of them in terms of the uninsured.
"It's not just about dollars and cents."
Georgia fares about the same as most states, Garrett says. Its large number of small- and
medium-sized employers means that many companies will drop company insurance as premiums rise,
boosting the societal cost of the uninsured.
Opponents of the pending reform proposals say costs will soar even if Congress acts.
"Unfortunately, we believe that health care expenditures will continue to rise under the current
system or any future system, regardless of the proposals that are under consideration by
congressional leaders, until we fix the broken health-care financing system," says Dr. Todd
Williamson, president of the Medical Association of Georgia. He argues limits on
medical-malpractice lawsuits would lower health costs.
Other opponents say broadening coverage is the biggest expense. "It's going to be more
expensive if you're trying to have universal health-care benefits for everyone," says Phil Kent,
national spokesman for the American Seniors Association. "We don't want to make a bad situation
worse by a costly Obamacare."
Analysis by economists from Georgia State University concluded that the average Georgia
family of three with an income of $50,000 would see its costs decrease if the current proposals
pass. All of the proposals would reduce the $1,000 the average Georgia family is paying now for
cost shifting to cover the expense of treating the uninsured, he says.
On the other hand, higher-income residents would likely pay more, either through increased
premiums or taxes. "There are winners and losers in terms of every proposal in how it's paid for.
The average Georgian will be a winner," says Bill Custer, director of the university's Center for
Health Services Research Institute of Health Administration.
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