Rising Costs Cut to the Heart of Obamacare

A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future.

~Author Unknown

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/649165.html

Both of my grandfather's died of heart problems that could be easily treated today. One needed a coronary artery stent, and the other needed a valve procedure. Using modern techniques, a total of about two hours of procedure time could have kept them alive for many years. In many ways, such advances represent the best of modern medicine. However for the supporters of Obamacare, or anyone attempting to address our healthcare crisis, progress in the fight against heart disease is one of our greatest problems.

New therapies to combat heart disease have not decreased it's incidence. Unlike polio or tuberculosis, modern drugs or invasive techniques do not eliminate the disease, but only slow its progression or lessen its impact. More people than ever have heart disease because of obesity, sedentary lifestyles, diabetes, and the rising age of our population. Breakthroughs in the treatment of this and other chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes and arthritis, are one of the key contributors to increasing medical costs. As the referenced report today concludes, the diagnostic procedures, drug therapies, angiograms and surgeries needed to treat these patients will triple in cost by 2030, and this report does not even consider new treatments such as stem cell therapy.

Although this news may cheer catheter manufacturers and cardiology residents, it should strike fear into the hearts of healthcare reformers and Congressional supporters of Obamacare. The fanciful cost projections used to support the passage of the bill do not acknowledge these increasing expenses. Disease rates are assumed to be constant, and procedures are assumed to get cheaper, not increase three-fold. Supporters of the legislation relied on unproven or useless prevention programs to pretend that disease incidences would decrease in order to meet delusional cost projections. Substituting good intentions and hand waving for science may satisfy political pressure groups, but it cannot replace reality. Even if such a comprehensive prevention program to cut the incidence of heart disease could be developed, it remains to be seen how long it would take to be effective.

If we are to have any hope of solving our healthcare problems we must stop lying to ourselves. Even the most simple and laudable of reforms goals, such as universal coverage and coverage of preexisting conditions have huge price tags. Studies like the one above only reinforce the need to confront the very hard choices our leaders have chosen to ignore or demagogue. We deserve better.