Institute of Medicine sees "state of crisis" in health care

Reporting on the site of its sponsor, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released America’s Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health and Health Care on February 24. (pdf)

The IOM issued 6 separate reports on the urgency of America's need to provide health care coverage to all. The most recent of these reports was released in 2004, but over the past 5 years, "there has been no comprehensive national effort to expand coverage to everyone."

The purpose of the current report "is to inform the health reform policy debate—in 2009—with an up-to-date assessment of the research evidence. This report addresses three key questions: (1) What are the dynamics driving downward trends in health insurance coverage? (2) Is being uninsured harmful to the health of children and adults? (3) Are insured people affected by high rates of uninsurance in their communities?"

The report confirms what would seem obvious - that people without health insurance are at much greater risk of getting serious illnesses - but it takes this kind of approach to bolster up Washington politicians to support bold action. And so the IOM recommends the following:

The committee recommends that the President work with Congress and other public and private sector leaders on an urgent basis to achieve health insurance coverage for everyone and, in order to make that coverage sustainable, to reduce the costs of health care and the rate of increase in per capita health care spending.

Comments

[Bill Straub]

Cliff, The mayor of San Francisco, your homeland, which now has near universal coverage says they could not have gooten there by asking the question"How do we provide universal coverage?", but only after asking 'How do we provide care for everyone?". Brings the delivery system, including the safety net to bear on the solution.

Bill