Obama to unveil $2 trillion healthcare savings plan

I / Washington May 11, 2009, 10:02 IST

President Barack Obama is to outline plans today to cut US healthcare costs by $two trillion over the next 10 years, part of a bid to slash spending while making treatment more affordable.

Obama is expected to detail what he will describe as an "unprecedented commitment" by six major healthcare lobby groups to limit spending increases over the next decade, senior administration officials said on Sunday.

The White House hopes the voluntary plan — drawn up by groups representing insurance firms, hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical makers and a labour union — could eventually save US families as much as $2,500 a year.

"We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we've been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control," Obama is expected to tell Americans, according to excerpts of his remarks released by the White House.

"Reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait."      

Signatories to the deal have promised to reduce spending increases by 1.5 percentage points each year until 2019.      

Officials say that amounts to around $two trillion, in part through slashing administrative costs.      

The United States currently spends more than $two trillion a year on healthcare, but around 46 million Americas remain without health insurance.