Health Reform Fear Factor

One of the greatest fears about health care reform for providers is regulation.

"Our industry is arguably the most regulated as it is, and they're proposing as many as 38 new federal agencies that would have additional oversight of the health care industry," said Steve Edwards, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CoxHealth. "That regulation does drive costs."

He noted that an average 300-bed hospital produces about 45,000 pages of documentation a day.

Edwards said he'd like to see prudent, incremental changes based on successful pilot programs.

"What we're modeling right now has never been done before, so it's a giant experiment with the world's largest economy at stake," he said.

Beverly Gossage, research fellow with the Show-Me Institute and founder of HSA Benefits Consulting, worries that government mandates will ultimately lead to government control of health care.

An individual mandate, requiring everyone to buy insurance, coupled with guaranteed issue, meaning the insurer must take anyone regardless of age or health, and community rating, which means everyone pays the same price, would immediately raises rates, she said.

If people can't afford the coverage but are mandated to buy it, they end up having to be subsidized by the government.

"Eventually what happens is so many people are subsidized that the government has essentially taken over health care," Gossage added.