Despite all the big talk about reform, very little may actually happen.

The reason, says Joe Paduda, is the failure to address costs. Blindly focusing on the uninsured and increasing coverage will drive up utilization of services, and “once the medical/pharma/device/hospital industry figures out there are a lot more people with coverage, they will raise prices, buy more technology, and build more capacity to service those new customers.”

You have to spend money to save money – such as expanding the primary care physician base and instituting the medical home model – but it’s doubtful that our government has the foresight to do that.

topics: reform, uninsured