And Obamacare does this by targeting the underlying drivers of our high health care costs. It supports and rewards caregivers for preventing complications of care, like health care associated infections, which saves both lives and money. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for example have set ambitious goals to reduce complications that if met would save 60,000 lives and $35 billion in just three years. Obamacare also emphasizes preventive care and cracks down hard on waste and fraud. Last year alone our government recaptured a record $4 billion. It fosters transparency, so everyone can tell the best performers from the rest. Rather than paying for volume Obamacare will help us pay for value.
The Henry Ford Health System in Detroit has documented savings of $10 million per year from its efforts to improve patient safety. The "Nuka" system of team based primary care in Anchorage has reduced hospital days more than 50 percent. Denver Health, using modern, "lean production" approaches to decreasing waste in health care processes has reduced costs by more than $150 million and achieved the lowest mortality rates among 115 comparable academic medical centers. Obamacare will help make these successful examples the norm.
The law also stops insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers. It prevents insurers from putting lifetime caps on coverage. Before Obamacare there were 105 million people that had one of these caps buried in their insurance contracts and every year, 20,000 unlucky Americans got letters from their insurers saying their coverage was running out. It didn't matter if they were in their second round of chemotherapy or waiting for surgery. The insurance companies simply said no. Because Obamacare lifted those caps families have better care and peace of mind.
Obamacare has allowed millions of young people to stay on their parents plans until they turn 26 and it requires insurance companies to cover the preventive care needed to stay healthy. It gives consumers the right to appeal an insurer's decisions and stops insurers from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions. And in just 13 months now even bigger improvements are coming. Insurance companies won't be allowed to discriminate against anyone with a preexisting condition and people who don't get insurance at work will finally have access to coverage they can afford.
Obamacare also makes it easier and more affordable for businesses to provide their employees with coverage. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that when the law is fully implemented it will lower employers premiums by making the insurance market more rational and reducing the "hidden tax" we're all paying for the health care bills and emergency room visits of the uninsured. Small businesses are already eligible for a tax credit that can reduce the cost of health insurance by more than a third and starting in 2014 the credit will cut health insurance costs in half for qualifying businesses. Obamacare will control health care costs the best possible way: by helping patients get and stay well.
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