Economic Effects of the March Health Legislation (Douglas W. Elmendorf)

The USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics hosted a conference Oct. 22, 2010, titled, "Health Reform and the Economy: Are They Good for Each Other?" At the conference, Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, presented a talk on "Economic Effects of the March Health Legislation."

Elmendorf's presentation focuses on the economic impact of the new health law on the five-sixths of the economy outside health care as well as on the health sector itself. With respect to the former, he concluded the most significant effect will be the labor market. For health care, the most important effects include reducing the uninsured by 32 million. For the law to succeed in producing large savings, he argued that fundamental reform of the health care delivery system must occur.

The conference also included panels examining critical reform issues related to reducing costs, improving quality, ensuring innovation and changing health care delivery. The assembly of renowned speakers from government, academia and industry presented different views -- some were concerned that health reform will not control costs, while others believed that incentives in the new health law for more robust information technology and provider payment reform will begin to bend the cost curve.

Learn more about the University of Southern California: http://www.usc.edu

Learn more about the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics: http://healthpolicy.usc.edu/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• health legislation
• economic effects
• health reform
• economy
• health care
• USC
• Douglas
• Elmendorf

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