U.S. presidential contenders' ideas for overhauling the nation's healthcare system will do little to reduce costs in the short term, healthcare experts said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that ideas floated by Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and by Republican John McCain fail to contain prices, which have skyrocketed in recent years.

Everybody is talking about the same kinds of things, but they are very difficult to do, said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. If we started on a campaign right now, you'd be lucky to see the product of that in seven to 10 years, if everything was meshing right.

Among the areas where the candidates agree: wider use of generic medicines, increasing information technology and tort reform measures to help contain costs. However, they differ on who should pay for healthcare benefits.

Clinton and Obama want to provide health insurance to all Americans at a cost of about $110 billion a year, relying on cost-cutting to bankroll the effort.

McCain, meanwhile, wants to change how health benefits are taxed so health insurance would be cheaper for consumers to buy, the newspaper said.

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