A new study by the Commonwealth Fund and the Center for American Progress Action Fund estimates that health care reform legislation will lead to greater savings than the Congressional Budget Office had predicted. While the CBO does not score savings from prevention, modernization, and payment reform, this study uses a more inclusive analysis, according to the Wonk Room.

Economists David Cutler, Karen Davis and Kristof Stremikis go beyond the CBO/CMS methodology by relying on business literature about the inefficiency in the health care sector, experiences of health practitioners, and the real world experiences of Geisinger Health System, Health Partners, Denver Health and others.

So how different is this new study from the CBO estimates?

The report finds that the Senate bill would reduce the deficit by up to $459 billion over ten years (approximately $300 billion more than CBO estimates) and produce Medicare savings of $576 billion (nearly $200 billion more than CBO estimates for the Senate bill).

That would be a huge reduction to the deficit, much greater than the CBO calculated. This study highlights how the status quo is absolutely not an option. The Star Tribune reports that the national per-person spending on health insurance premiums will jump 94 percent by 2020 without reform. Premium costs in Minnesota are already among the highest in the nation, and we simply cannot afford for them to increase. 

It is past time that we had quality, affordable health care for all Americans. You can find out if your Senators and Representative voted to support universal health care or sided with insurance companies.

Photo: ProgressOhio on Flickr