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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (453452)	9/5/2003 4:38:01 PM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Respond to of 769670

U.S. spends 300% more on health care administration Canada's public system is far more economic than American private care Ottawa - So much for private sector efficiency. A new study published by the New England Journal of Medicine says Americans spend an astonishing 300% more on administrative costs to run their private health care system than Canadians spend to administer the public medicare system the government has operated since the 1960s. Worse, all the extra money plowed into the American system is not making patients any healthier. "Health (plans) with the highest administration costs tend to have the lowest clinical quality," says Steffie Woolhander, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard and a co-author of the study. Overall, Americans spend US$752 per capita more on health care annually than Canadians do. "A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system." The average overall administrative cost of treating a patient in the private U.S. health care system in 1999 was US$1,059. By comparison the administrative cost of treating a patient in Canada's public system was US$307. The full cost, covering treatment and administration, averaged US$5,600 per patient, 83% higher than in Canada. Insurance overhead costs account for the major portion of U.S. administrative costs - US$259 a patient (in 1999) compared with US$47 in Canada. U.S. hospitals averaged US$315 per patient on administration, compared to US$103 in Canada. 41 million with no coverage The overall conclusion of the U.S. researchers is that Canada has an excellent public health care system that needs more money to be fully effective. By contrast, the Americans are pumping lots of money into their private system and doing a thoroughly lousy job of caring for people. "We have a systemic problem here," Dr. Woolhander said. "There is lots of money sloshing around, yet we have 41 million people with no health insurance, seniors who can't afford medications, and multiple other problems." Critics blame much of the high U.S. spending on the multi-payer system of privately-managed care in the United States. But the high cost of administering a private system is also a major factor. Between 1969 and 1999, the number of U.S. administrators - including clerks, consultants and managers - rose to 27.3% from 18.2%. In Canada, the increase was much less, rising to 19.1% in 1996 from 16% in 1971. For example, one of the biggest U.S. private health plans, WellPoint, looks after 10.1 million customers and has 13,900 administrative staff. By contrast, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan covers 11.7 million people with about 1,400 employees.