NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Meaningful healthcare reform could result in affordable insurance coverage, improved outcomes and slower spending, officials of a foundation said.

A report released by The Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System details the non-profit organization's recommendations for an integrated set of policies and assesses the impacts of specific policy actions from 2010-2020, compared with the status quo.

Dr. James J. Mongan, chairman of the commission, said many of these reforms will be politically difficult, but are necessary to put the U.S. health system on a different path. Ensuring coverage and improving quality, while also achieving savings, can be accomplished, in large part, through payment changes that reward efficiency and penalize waste.

"Our healthcare system currently falls far short of what we should expect, despite pockets of excellence," Mongan said in a statement. "Too often incentives reward more care, rather than better outcomes."

A central recommendation is to create a national insurance exchange that would offer a choice of private plans and a new public plan, coupled with insurance reforms that would make coverage affordable, ensure access, and lower administrative costs, Mongan said.

The United States is expected to spend $42 trillion on healthcare over the next 11 years, with spending rising 6.7 percent per year, but by payment and information system reforms, the increase in spending could slow to 5.5 percent per year, the report said.

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