The economic slump has also made it more difficult for some hospitals to get lines of credit, even as more patients without insurance or other means of paying turn to emergency rooms for care.
That makes systemic reform vital now, said Thomas M. Priselac, chief executive of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and chairman-elect of the American Hospital Assn. "It is more desirable to address this in as comprehensive a way as possible, rather than incrementally," he said.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 61 words Type of Material: Correction
Healthcare: An article in Tuesday's Section A about the prospects for healthcare reform in Washington said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America had launched an ad campaign opposing Barack Obama's proposal to allow the federal government to negotiate lower Medicare drug prices. The ad campaign urges affordable health insurance but does not oppose government negotiation of lower Medicare drug prices.
Len Nichols, an economist who directs the health policy program at the New America Foundation, thinks Obama cannot wait to act on healthcare.
He said runaway healthcare costs would not slow during the recession.
"Healthcare is part of the economic structure," Nichols said. "The concept that this is some kind of add-on, a luxury, as opposed to an integral part of our economy, is false."
On Monday, the New America Foundation released a report titled "The Cost of Doing Nothing," which estimates that deaths and illnesses among the uninsured cost the country from $103.9 billion to $207.3 billion last year in lost productivity.
At the high end of that estimate, the cost per uninsured person is $4,541, or about $400 more than the average annual per-person cost of health insurance, Nichols said.
"It's cheaper to cover everyone," he said.
That is the case increasingly being made by lawmakers pushing aggressive reform, such as Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who is sponsoring a comprehensive proposal that would guarantee private universal coverage.
"If you don't fix healthcare, healthcare expenses are going to make this banking bailout deal look like a rounding error," Wyden told physicians, business leaders and healthcare industry leaders gathered for a meeting today in Los Angeles.
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noam.levey@latimes.com
lisa.girion@latimes.com
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Noam N. Levey reporting from Washington
Lisa Girion reporting from Los Angeles
