The United States can reduce upward health care cost trends and expand access for most Americans if:
• Health insurance coverage is expanded to as close to universal levels as we can reasonably get;
• Existing sources of employer-based coverage are not disrupted or displaced or saddled with significant
additional costs and compliance burdens;
• Expanded coverage is accompanied by meaningful
delivery system reform led by changes to Medicare; and
• As expected, purchasers in the private sector adopt these reforms.
The debate over health care reform is increasingly being framed as a choice between the current system and the uncertainty of what reform
may bring. But the comparison should be betweenthe uncertainty of what reform may bring and the near certainty of what inaction will bring. Doing nothing is simply no longer an option. If current trends continue, the future looks dire for the U.S. health care system and for employer-sponsored coverage
that is its foundation. Without change, Hewitt projects that employer-based health care costs will increase 166% by
2019, resulting in a cost burden of $28,530 per employee. This price tag approaches three times the 2009 per-employee cost of $10,743