Lisa Lopez Snyder
Contributing Writer

Rising health care costs, the increasing number of uninsured people and lack of access to high-quality care will challenge private and public leaders to make any headway with real health reform in South Carolina in 2008, said Lynn Bailey, a Columbia-based health care consultant.

Some 20% of South Carolinians are uninsured, said Bailey, who spoke Tuesday before a meeting of the Alliance for Women and Women in Philanthropy in Columbia. Reform needs to ensure that everyone is covered, she said.

“Once we address their health care coverage, we can talk about health care costs,” Bailey said.

Total health care spending nationally in 2006 was $2.7 trillion, or 16% of the gross national product, which measures the total dollar value for goods and services.

“By 2050, federal health expenditures could be the entire budget,” she said.

State and federal proposals, including the presidential candidates’ plans, continue to overlook two key issues she said: health care reform’s effect on the rate of inflation and how it will address the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the patchwork of insurance regulations at the state level.

“That’s the 900-pound gorilla,” Bailey said of the latter. ERISA sets federal reporting and disclosure rules for employer-sponsored health plans. ERISA plans are exempt from state insurance regulation and taxes.