NEW YORK – It's possible to provide health insurance for uninsured Americans and also save healthcare costs, asserts a report released Friday by the Commonwealth Fund.

Technology would have to play a key role in streamlining administration and purchasing, the report suggests.

Authored by Sara R. Collins, Jennifer L. Nicholson and Sheila D. Rustgileading, the report analyzes health insurance bills put forth by members of the 110th Congress and President-elect Barack Obama. The authors conclude that several proposals could substantially reduce the number of uninsured Americans and would either reduce healthcare spending or add only modestly to annual healthcare expenditures.

Proposals by Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) call for implementing healthcare information technology as a way to boost quality and improve efficiencies to achieve savings.

About 46 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, are without health insurance.

Using analysis from the Lewin Group, the authors provide coverage and cost estimates for the proposed bills, which range from 48.9 million uninsured people gaining coverage to a net loss of coverage for 283,000 people.

Proposals could increase national health spending by as much as $64.1 billion or create savings of $58.1 billion.

The report is the first of a two-part analysis.