Medicare’s admin expenses are not really that much lower than private insurers’. Before single-payer advocates start accusing me of being an industry shill, check out the facts.
Jun
26
Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
Medicare’s admin expenses are not really that much lower than private insurers’. Before single-payer advocates start accusing me of being an industry shill, check out the facts.
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With all due respect, I’m starting to think Bob Laszewski is a shill for industry. At the very least, he says he’s not a fan of the status quo, but also reacts negatively to any mention of change. In fairness, it’s probably hard to be that far inside the beltway and have any hope for true changes. After reading a few of his posts, I just start to feel hopeless that the healthcare system will ever improve.
Medicare IS THE PRIVATE SECTOR!
Please don’t forget that Medicare claims are processed by the PRIVATE sector through a process where the Fed pays the marginal cost of the carriers overall opertion. (In other words, they get bargain administration rates!) IF you want to see the true cost of a governement run program check out Medicaid at 18-23% and no accountability!
If you want to taste true national health care… go stand in line at a social services office and get the details on Medicaid. Then try to go and see a doctor!
Have fun!
K
Joe – Nice blog. But with all due respect, Bob does not provide “facts” that the Medicare admin expense is comparable to that of private industry. All he does is add in $19 billion a year to Medicare’s expenses and say that’s Medicare’s share of the cost to service our enormous national debt. Please. It’s a gimmick only those inside the beltway could possibly take seriously. It’s certainly not a fact.
I’m not sure 3% is a good number either. Maybe that’s a little low when you add in all the people under age 65. The real number might be 4-5%, comparable to an efficient TPA paying a large company’s claims.
I’m sure some sort of reliable study could be done to get a better estimate of the government’s cost to administer a single payer system. I’m 99.99% sure that cost will be significantly less than what we’re paying under the current system, which can exceed 30-35% for some individual and small group plans.