Thanks to Ezra Klein for publicizing a factoid that should be getting a LOT wider airplay. The average health-care coverage for the average family now costs $13,375, according to Kaiser. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. And if the trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083.Yes, they truly are numbers to fear, because basically they will bankrupt us in short order if we don't do something about the situation. Hence, the focus by Mark Warner and others on "bending the health care cost curve down."
Three years of slightly above-average health insurance will cost a solid six figures.
Those are numbers to marvel at. Those are numbers to fear. But they are not the numbers that loom in the minds of most Americans. And therein lies the problem for health-care reform.
Along these lines, I refer you to a piece in today's Washington Post by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Neal Barnard, who writes that massive federal subsidies for unhealthy food choices (e.g., high fructose corn syrup, meat, dairy) results in a food system "that not only tolerates ill health but encourages it" by - among other things - "push[ing] our cholesterol levels up and our waistlines out."
I agree with Barnard: if we are going to get serious about bending the health care cost curve down, we need to address the 800-pound gorilla in the room, which is that much if not most of our health care dollars go to treating lifestyle-related illnesses (e.g, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer) that can be dealt with in multiple ways, just a few of which might include: 1) slashing all subsidies for unhealthy food products (corn, sugar, etc.); 2) replacing those with subsidies for healthy food products (fresh fruits and vegetables); 3) slapping on a "junk food tax" while cutting taxes on healthy food; 4) launching a massive public education campaign to combat obesity and unhealthy eating practices in general; 5) requiring fast food restaurants to pay a "health care surcharge" to internalize the externalities of the damage they do - and the cost they incur - to society and to every one of us through their unhealthy products; and 6) crank up the gas tax and pour money into "smart growth" to encourage people to walk rather than drive in their cars (this will also have the added benefits of helping the environment and getting us off of oil imports from countries that aren't our friends).
So, where are the "radical centrists" pushing ideas like these and willing to be a leader in truly "bending the health care cost curve down," not just talking about it? Hello, Senator Warner, any interest? :)
