The New Health Dialogue

The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a 56-page report making the economic case for reform. The CEA is unequivocal in asserting that "the benefits of achieving successful reform would be substantial to American households, businesses, and the economy as a whole."

To achieve these benefits, the CEA argues successful health reform will have to do two things:

1. Slow the growth rate of health care spending by as much as 1.5 percent
2. Expand coverage to the uninsured.

Later, we'll take a more in-depth look at the CEA analysis, but for now, here are the toplines from the report. Successful health reform that controlled costs and expanded coverage would:

• Increase in the income of a family of four by nearly $10,000 in 2030
• Lower the unemployment rate, creating as many as 500,000 jobs a year in the near- and mid-term.
• Prevent a "disastrous" increase in the federal budget deficit
• Provide a net gain to the economy of $100 billion a year simply by providing coverage to the uninsured (That takes into account the estimated cost of covering the uninsured)
• Increase the labor supply by reducing barriers to job mobility and leveling the playing field between large and small business.

"Health care reform is incredibly important not just for the American people but for the American economy," Christina Romer, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers told reporters. "Good health care reform is essentially good economic policy."

The Washington Post notes the report "contains few details about how those ambitious goals would be achieved, however, and does not address any increased federal spending needed to implement health reform." Those details will have to be hammered out in the Congressional markups and negotiations that will fill the coming months, but the importance of those details, the potential benefits of reform and costs of inaction couldn't be clearer.