ACA: No Help On Health Costs

The United States moved one step closer to universal health care for all citizens with an historic Supreme Court decision Thursday.

By upholding the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) compelling almost all Americans to buy health insurance, the court paved the way for continued, gradual phasing in of a law that could bring coverage to some 30 million uninsured Americans by 2014.

This does not mean that the PPACA as currently authored will be the outline to achieve affordable and quality health care for all of us. In fact unless revised, we assume the law will become unaffordable, as it was written in a partisan manner that addresses coverage but does too little to address costs.

With an aging population and more health care consumed in the later years of life, there can be little doubt that there will be upward pressure on health care costs.

The Affordable Care Act has accelerated the cost of health care, and we assume you have seen your premiums rise significantly. Employers and employees alike are now spending more for care than they ever have.

Democrats and Republicans should work together to revise the act to properly address costs. This includes addressing Medicare and Medicaid, which is growing at an estimated 7,000 people a day looking for it to be their primary insurer (which is you the taxpayer).

Unless common sense cost incentives and cost transparency become a part of this act, the political celebration of the mandate being upheld will be only that. The celebration will turn to grave disappointment when the bills come due and the taxpayer is asked to fund a poorly written act. The present health care system is inefficient and expensive, and it will continue to hurt our ability to compete globally.

A spirit of mutual cooperation among both parties could fix the statute's many shortcomings and provide a better quality of life for millions of Americans in a manner that is affordable. This will also help make us economically competitive and we can then grow employment. You would hope that this is something that politicians from both sides of the aisle would be proud to support.