Another Look at the Cost of Delay

Billy Roy, M.D., a retired physician and former member of Congress representing Kansas, writes an excellent piece on why we need to move forward on healthcare reform.  He points out the significant costs of not passing health reform that I wrote about in The Cost of Delay.  In 1973, he co-sponsored President Nixon's health reform proposal.  Using data from the Commonwealth Fund, he points out that our health costs would be a lot closer to those of most other industrial nations if we had passed that legislation.  Imagine if we had another six or seven percent of GDP available to pay down our debt, or improve education, or finish digging out from the Great Recession.  He argues that we will have problems in healthcare until we decide, as other nations have, that healthcare should be provided privately, but financed and administered publicly.  He also points out that the reform proposed is not a government takeover of the health care industry.  The insurance industry and their lobbyists will do just fine if reform passes or fails.  You can read his thoughtful piece here.