Viewpoints: Rising health costs and the health law

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare's Rising Costs
Even a slow economy can't stop healthcare costs from rising. A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust shows that the cost of employer-provided insurance rose 9% this year -; even as workers and their families were cutting back on trips to the doctor's office -; and has more than doubled over the last decade. The data buttress the arguments in favor of AB 52, a California bill that would give state regulators the authority to reject unreasonable increases in health insurance premiums. But they also show that policymakers must do even more to slow the growth of healthcare costs (9/29). 

USA Today: Health Premiums Jump, But Don't Blame 'ObamaCare'
No sooner had the Kaiser Family Foundation, in its annual survey of health insurance, found that the average premium rose a whopping 9% this year to $15,073 for an employer-sponsored family plan, than the usual partisans began pointing fingers. Spare us the simplistic explanations. These latest increases are just further evidence of deep, long-standing flaws in the U.S. health care system that are only modestly impacted by the new law (9/29). 

Denver Post: Editorial: Pointing Fingers Over Health Costs
When critics insist the growth of this nation's health care burden is unsustainable, this is what they mean: The average cost of an employer-provided family insurance plan soared by 9 percent in 2011. That's far higher than the rate of inflation or the average growth of wages. ... In a word, it's a looming disaster. And yet our political leaders mostly still refuse to come to terms with it (9/29).

San Francisco Chronicle: Health Care Taxing America's Workers
On Tuesday House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan gave a talk at Stanford's Hoover Institution on what should become the Republican template behind its bid to "repeal and replace" Obamacare. Ryan cited the unintended consequences that employer-paid health care plans have delivered: "The system that shields us from the cost of services has actually left us paying much, much more" (Debra J. Saunders, 9/29).

Kansas City Star: Health Care Reform Needed, Stat
Unemployment hovers above 9 percent. Home values remain depressed. Small businesses can't gain traction for growth. Politics and life are so unsure the U.S. credit rating has been downgraded from AAA status. But against this backdrop, a new report indicates that health insurance rates on the average family plan this year increased 9 percent, three times the rate of inflation. Insurance companies blame an increase in the cost of care. The news is compelling evidence for why we need health care reform (9/28).

San Francisco Chronicle: Right Cure For Shortcoming Of S.F. Health Care Law
There ought to be a warning sign at City Hall for whenever the San Francisco Board of Supervisors starts tinkering with economic and social policy: "First, do no harm." That admonition certainly should apply to the efforts to close a loophole in the city's requirement that businesses provide health care coverage for their workers (9/29).