Non-Partisan CBO Estimates of Health Care Reform

Latest big-picture analysis of health care history and proposed reform from insurance/finance insider Andy Kurz (bio here).

SUMMARY: Few doubt how unsustainable current medical trends are. With medical inflation consistently outpacing the CPI, health costs will continue to take a greater share of the economy. Private insurers claim they can solve the problem with reform but without a Public Option. History suggests this is a dubious claim at best. Looked at from multiple angles, private insurers are not likely to succeed. Profits gains have far exceeded key indices, medical loss ratios have gone way down, while costs have gone way up, competition is diminished by concentration of major insurers, and tort reform complaints carry little water.

Full report here.