GAO Calls for Review of U.S. Health Care System

Washington

Citing skyrocketing health care costs, “below par” health outcomes and “uneven” quality of care, the Government Accountability Office has called for a re-examination of the U.S. health care system.

In a report titled 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the Federal Government, the GAO said that the United States spends 15 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care. Even though this is more than other major industrialized nations, the country performs “below par” in many areas, and “evidence suggests that the American people are not getting the best value for their health care dollars.”

Among its recommendations, the GAO calls for a re-examination of Medicare and Medicaid, including whether eligibility requirements should be changed and how the government can leverage its purchasing power for health care products and services. Spending for the government health care programs, which make up 20 percent of the federal budget, have more than doubled in the last 20 years.

The report came weeks after the head of the Congressional Budget Office warned that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid will outweigh the costs of Social Security within 10 years. Furthermore, the Medicare trust fund will be depleted by 2019, while the Social Security trust fund will not be used up until 2043, CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin said.