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September 04, 2002 at 08:00 PM
NU Online News Service, Sept. 4, 5:15 p.m. — Washington
The president of the largest U.S. manufacturers’ association warns that manufacturers will have to eliminate health care benefits unless health care quality and productivity improve.
“No issue is more critical to manufacturers than the rising cost of health care,” Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, Washington, said at recent press briefing. “Health care spending in America is out of control.”
Health care spending now accounts for 14% of U.S. gross domestic product, and some projections suggest that it could reach 20% of GDP by the end of the decade.
One of the primary causes of the price increases is lack of productivity in the health care sector, Jasinowski said.
Jasinowski cited one estimate that as much as one-third of health care spending pays for unnecessary, out-of-date and harmful services, and another estimate, from a recent Institute of Medicine report, that medical errors kill 100,000 U.S. residents each year.
“There is redundancy and waste in the system,” Jasinowski said.
