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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (6099)	2/12/2009 8:13:55 PM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Well, a quick search brought this up in regard to your 'debunk' of the bankruptcy myth: Health care in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHealth insurance costs are rising faster than wages or inflation, and medical causes were cited by about half of bankruptcy filers in the United States in 2001. .... especially if an condition has worsened due to putting off needed care. .... A 2003 study in Health Affairs estimated that uninsured people in the ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States - 303k - Cached - Similar pages More results from en.wikipedia.org » I'm sure Dierks and Fowler will jump on the following excerpts and prove them totally false also. In 2007, 45.7 million people in the U.S. (15.3% of the population) were without health insurance for at least part of the year. This number was down slightly from the previous year, with nearly 3 million more people receiving government coverage and a slightly lower percentage covered under private plans than the year previous.[33] Among the uninsured population, nearly 37 million were employment-age adults (ages 18 to 64), and more than 27 million worked at least part time. About 38% of the uninsured live in households with incomes of $50,000 or more.[33] According to the Census Bureau, nearly 36 million of the uninsured are legal U.S citizens. Another 9.7 million are non-citizens, but the Census Bureau does not distinguish in its estimate between legal non-citizens and illegal immigrants.[33] It has been estimated that nearly one fifth of the uninsured population is able to afford insurance, almost one quarter is eligible for public coverage, and the remaining 56% need financial assistance (8.9% of all Americans).[52] However, extending coverage to all who are eligible remains a fiscal challenge.[53] Shared costs of the uninsured Main article: Uninsured in the United States The costs of treating the uninsured must often be absorbed by providers as charity care, passed on to the insured via cost shifting and higher health insurance premiums, or paid by taxpayers through higher taxes.[95] And another one for Dierks, who says costs will soar when the government gets involved [edit] Administrative costs The health care system in the U.S. has a vast number of players. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of insurance companies in the U.S.[110][39] This system has considerable administrative overhead, far greater than in nationalized, single-payer systems, such as Canada's. An oft-cited study by Harvard Medical School and the Canadian Institute for Health Information determined that some 31% of U.S. health care dollars, or more than $1,000 per person per year, went to health care administrative costs, nearly double the administrative overhead in Canada, on a percentage basis.[111] According to the insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plans, administrative costs for private health insurance plans have averaged approximately 12 percent of premiums over the last 40 years. There has been a shift in the type and distribution of administrative expenses over that period. The cost of adjudicating claims has fallen, while insurers are spending more on other administrative activities, such as medical management, nurse help lines, and negotiating discounted fees with health care providers.[112] A 2003 study published by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association also found that health insurer administrative costs were approximately 11% to 12% of premiums, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans reporting slightly lower administrative costs, on average, than commercial insurers.[113] For the period 1998 through 2003, average insurer administrative costs declined from 12.9% to 11.6% of premiums. The largest increases in administrative costs were in customer service and information technology, and the largest decreases were in provider services and contracting and in general administration.[114] The McKinsey Global Institute estimated that excess spending on “health administration and insurance” accounted for as much as 21% of the estimated total excess spending ($477 billion in 2003).[3] According to a report published by the CBO in 2008, administrative costs for private insurance represent approximately 12% of premiums. Variations in administrative costs between private plans are largely attributable to economies of scale. Coverage for large employers has the lowest administrative costs. The percentage of premium attributable to administration increases for smaller firms, and is highest for individually purchased coverage.[115] However, broader studies also factor in billing and insurance-related (BIR) costs borne not only by insurers but by physicians and hospitals. One study of these costs in California found that BIR among insurers, physicians, and hospitals represented 20-22% of privately insured spending in California acute care settings.[116]