Health Care Reform

The health reform bill passed in early 2010 reinforces the central role of private insurance firms, will leave 23 uninsured even if it works as planned, and does little to address the growing problem of under-insurance. Moreover, the rate of health care cost growth will actually increase. Pressure for further reform will grow as more and more people find care unaffordable, employers and state and local governments face mounting cost pressures, and the federal government's deficit increases. Only a single payer system can simultaneously improve coverage and contain costs by streamlining bureaucracy and limiting health firms' profiteering. Public health activists should begin to lay the groundwork for this next stage of reform.