Talk is cheap, reform is happening now.

• Author: Kennard, David
• Position: Editorial

There's been lots of talk about health care reform lately, mostly because conversations have included price tags that include the word "trillions."

"The U.S. spends over $2.4 trillion on health care (almost 17 percent of GDP), and the government accounts for almost one-half of all health care spending," says Nina Owcharenko, deputy director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Health care spending affects employers and employees across the country with more than half of Americans with health insurance coverage experiencing cost increases this past year.

Employers saw the cost of providing coverage to their workers rise 5 percent in 2008. The costs went up even more for smaller employers. But those that contribute more than 90 percent of an insurance premium have an 88 percent adoption rate among employees. However, employers that pay only 63 percent or less of the premium see an adoption rate of only 68 percent. And as many as 40 percent of workers say they might decide to forgo insurance if their employer dropped coverage but increased their salary.

While the pundits debate over what should be done and how fast to execute it, health care reform in Utah is moving forward. Thanks in part to a boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, ChartLogic, a local company, plans to use some of the $19 billion allocated to the medical information technology industry to change how physicians...