Subject: Re: F<O>CUS/HEALTH: Should We Abolish P

From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Aug 93 21:02:00 GMT

From: [email-masked] (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: F<O>CUS/HEALTH: Should We Abolish Private Health Industry? (ADMIN)

F<O>CUS/HEALTH: Should We Abolish Private Health Industry? (ADMIN)

          -------------------------------------------------  
          H i g h   A d m i n i s t r a t i v e   C o s t s  
          -------------------------------------------------  
 
       Our medical system is the most bureaucratic in the world if  
       measured by the tons of paperwork generated per transaction.  
       For every $100 in health care, we buy $25 worth of pluralism --  
       accountants, advertisers, marketers and financiers.  
 
        -- Health Economist Uew Reinhardt  
 
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From: _Health Letter_, February 1991 issue, of the Public Citizen  
Health Research Group. Page 8:  
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"Should the Private Health Insurance Industry Be Eliminated?"  
[CONTINUED]

The private health insurance industry dramatically increases  
administrative complexity in the U.S. health care system.  

============================================================  
Percentage of premiums consumed by overhead:  
 
Private Insurance Companies:              12% (overhead & profits)  
 
Public payers (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid):   3%  
 
Canadian provincial insurance plans:      under 1%  
============================================================  

The U.S. also wastes more on billing and administration in hospitals,  
nursing homes, and physicians' offices, all of which are made exceedingly  
complex by the existence of 1500 different private insurers.  

==================================================  
Billing, administration, and insurance  
overhead as percentage of total spending:  
 
U.S.:           22%  
Canada:         13.7%  
U.K.            11.1%  
==================================================  
 
Since then, policies aimed at containing costs have increased the  
bureaucratic share of health expenditures in the U.S. to one-quarter  
of the total bill. Almost $90 billion could have been saved in 1987  
alone (enough to expand access to care to all Americans) if the U.S.  
was as administratively efficient as Canada.  
 
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From: _Health Letter_, February 1991 issue, of the Public Citizen  
Health Research Group. Page 8:  
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