PINCHING PENNIES

Cheaper Health Care, Anyone?

Health industry to slash costs in face of Obama plan.

In an effort to secure a seat at the health care reform bargaining table, health care groups are promising to produce $2 trillion in savings over the next decade by scaling back costs. The groups plan to announce this proposal Monday, in a move that will lend momentum to President Obama’s health care overhaul. Democrats are considering legislation to tamp down costs and extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The health groups pledge to trim the skyrocketing rise in costs by 1.5 percent a year by better coordinating care and streamlining administrative expenses. But this might just be more talk—the groups offer a pledge, but there’s no system in place to make sure they follow up on their goal.