Obama: Health overhaul could save U.S. trillions

By David Alexander and Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday a coalition of U.S. health groups would cut rising costs by $2 trillion over the next decade, a move he said would encourage Congress to adopt major healthcare reform this year.

Obama, who has made reform a centerpiece of his political agenda, said a coalition representing doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers, insurers and laborers had agreed to help reduce the rise in healthcare costs by 1.5 percentage points per year for 10 years.

"From 2010 to 2019 they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national healthcare spending by 1.5 percentage points each year -- an amount that's equal to over $2 trillion," Obama said at an appearance announcing the pledge.

The president, flanked by representatives of the different industry groups, called the commitment "a watershed event in the long-elusive quest for healthcare reform."

Others were skeptical about the industry groups, some of which opposed reform in the 1990s. They asked how the administration would ensure the groups lived up to their pledge and whether there would be a way to enforce it.

"Today's announcement promises savings with no concrete plan to achieve them and no enforcement mechanism if they don't," said John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives. "The administration has yet to answer the fundamental question of how to pay for its massive multi-trillion (dollar) health care plan."

None of the groups, which included the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and others, offered detailed specifics on how they would pare costs. Many of the measures that have been discussed would require action by Congress.

It's "really dependent in some part on improving the overall health of the population," said Stephen Ubl, the head of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, which represents medical device makers. He said savings would be tied to improving Americans' eating and exercise habits.