I’m not an economist. In fact, I get all woozy and sweaty when asked to figure percentages. But when the guy just tapped by President-elect Obama to run our nation’s budgeting says we can’t get out of this economic morass unless we also fix our health care system, I listen. We all should.

"Although it (health care reform) may not seem immediately relevant given our current difficulties," writes Peter Orszag in his blog post as Congressional Budget Office director, "it will be crucial to address the nation's looming fiscal gap – which is driven primarily by rising health care costs – as the economy eventually recovers from this current downturn."

Orszag’s right, most of us are still in shell-shock over the losses in our 401(k)s and our home values – an estimated $11 trillion, just vanished. And then there are the impending job layoffs. How is health care relevant to getting out of this economic hole?

It’s that fiscal gap he speaks about – we can’t keep paying more for less. If you’re fortunate enough to have insurance through your job, your premiums keep going up. The average for a family this year is $12,680, of which you pay about $3,350. That’s nearly double what you paid in 1999. Your salary didn’t increase that fast.

And then there are your deductibles. You now pay an average $1,000 a year if you’re in a PPO, according to the latest survey of employer-sponsored health plans. That, too, has doubled over just the past year. If you think all these cost increases don’t affect your employer, too, just ask GM.

More spending doesn’t mean better care. The Washington Post put it bluntly in dispelling health care’s biggest myths. The United States is No. 1 in only one sector of health care – spending. But we’re behind most developed countries on virtually every statistic for quality of care. That’s worth it.

As for those predicted layoffs, no job means no insurance. Try buying a policy on the open market. Consumer Reports found in a survey that three-quarters of people without insurance couldn't afford an individual plan. And if they could afford it, we found that the median out-of-pocket expenses for a year were $2,264; while those with employer-based coverage paid less, only $973.

Even if your job is secure, each lost job costs all of us more for healthcare. For every 1 percent rise in the nation's unemployment rate, another 1 million people will enroll in Medicaid (600,000 kids and 400,000 adults). The states have to come up with another $1.4 billion each time the unemployment rate ticks up to cover those health costs. How is your state dealing with its budget shortfalls? Higher taxes, more layoffs. The cycle continues.

This is a lot of numbers. Especially for the mathematically challenged like me. But consider this – if the new Administration makes quality health coverage that everyone can afford to buy part of our economic recovery plan, we will all have more money to pay for our mortgages, our college education, our retirement plans. And more important, we’ll have the peace of mind knowing that we have access to quality health care when we need it.

Isn’t that the real the goal of any economic recovery?

comments (2)

We should not be giving any money to the Auto industry unless they re-negotiate their obscene salary packages.. Workers on the assembly line cost the company's over $81.00 and hour. Then, if things get slow, the still get paid.

We should be building a national high speed rail way. Last year a train in France went 360 MPH. Think of all the Air Port and Airline hassle and stress we would avoid if we could go from New York to Washington DC in one hour. Such a project would be modeled on the Eisenhower National Highway system where government money promoted the construction of the national highway system. It would also be very green, i. e. save lots of fuel and result much much less green house gases. CSX says they can move a ton of freight (tenor more people) over 400 miles on one gallon of fuel. AIRLINES USE MANY GALLONS JUST TO TRANSPORT ONE 200 pound body. Many jobs would be created to build such a system and the benefits would be awesome.

The other thing the government should be dong is lowering our mortgage interest rates and credit card interest rates. Not to 5% like they talked about in the WSJ this morning. Ours is only 5.3% now, so what does going thru the hassle of refinancing to get it down to 5%? We are giving banks money for 0% or less. They should be extending this largess to us. Mortgage interest rates should be lowered to about 1%. This would allow us to stay in our houses and also spend a little more thus stimulating the economy. Our illustrious congressmen allow banks to charge credit card interest at 33%. This is sick. At that rate we will never get our of debt. Its 21st century indentureism. They are also restricting credit and upping the monthly payment schedule further squeezing us all a the same time that they are taking money from us (the government) or zero or less interest. The focus of the bailout is completely wrong in giving the greedy, over paid bankers billions. they should be giving it to us and that will help improve the economy. If Enron, Tyco and Worldcom executives went to jail, so should the greedy bankers from Lehman, Chase Morgan, Citi, etc go to JAIL and return their last ten years income to our treasury.

The US spends double per person on health care than European countries while our health care quality results are quite poor in comparison, all while leaving 47 million Americans uninsured and another 25 million Americans with partial insurance or insurance they can't use due to deductables and co-payments.

High performing health systems all around the globe have effective primary care as their foundation. Investing in effective primary care improves health outcomes, improves the experience of care, and reduces the cost of care.

In one study we are conducting we find that effective primary care is possible in the US and gets the results we need.

Studies in the US have demonstrated up to 20% health care savings by investing in effective primary care. These savings would be a major boon for our country.

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