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Well, if you want to split hairs like that, you're right. But the 80% part is single-payer, and they do it with a much lower overhead than the private insurances.
but, kat..you especially(as a nurse) will admit, the costs in healthcare are not the insurance or the overhead of insurance but all the things that contribute to that health CARE it self
when your doctor charges you $100...its not $100 going into his pocket
he/she still has to pay rent/lease/mortgage
still has to pay an electric bill
still has to pay for supplies
still has to pay THE NURSE/RECEPTIONIST/RECORDS KEEPER
still has to pay ofr that mri/xray machine (equipment) etc
and you are not going to lower THOSE costs by the government or insuance
Nice! I will vote for you to congress. The problem, I might end up being one of the twenty votes you will get because the populace in general is too stupid to see corporate interests fail in influencing government and its policies. Until then, states like Vermont have the right idea... single payer system.
sure...singlepayer sounds great...until you find you CANT ANSWER ONE QUESTION.....HOW TO PAY FOR IT
but, kat..you especially(as a nurse) will admit, the costs in healthcare are not the insurance or the overhead of insurance but all the things that contribute to that health CARE it self
when your doctor charges you $100...its not $100 going into his pocket
he/she still has to pay rent/lease/mortgage
still has to pay an electric bill
still has to pay for supplies
still has to pay THE NURSE/RECEPTIONIST/RECORDS KEEPER
still has to pay ofr that mri/xray machine (equipment) etc
and you are not going to lower THOSE costs by the government or insuance
Really? Gee, I work in a doctor's office an I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know that.
Sarcasm aside, what does that have to do with single-payer? BTW, except for a few specialists, doctors don't have their own private MRI and X-ray equipment. In fact, I don't know any who have their own MRIs.
Office space, supplies, and utilities are a small fraction of the cost of health care. Ancillary staff salaries are a larger piece of it, but some of that IS admin. We have a couple people on our staff who do nothing but admin work, for a staff of 4 1/2 doctors. With single-payer, billing, referrals and the like would be much simpler and less expensive.
sure...singlepayer sounds great...until you find you CANT ANSWER ONE QUESTION.....HOW TO PAY FOR IT
Instead of health care premiums, how about taxes? I certainly won't mind that.
BTW, on your previous posts about administrative costs, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare has a 2-3% overhead while private insurance has a 14% overhead (varies from 12-14% for most insurance companies, up to 20% for many larger companies and can be up to 30% for individual plans). According to a study by New England Journal of Medicine (2003), on average, the total administrative part of health care spending in the USA is 31%. In other words, we're talking about nearly $775 Billion dollars a year in administrative costs. This is a major area where costs could be reduced but nothing is being done about it.
Why is it that people add up the costs of single payer tax programs, but forget that this would replace the amount you are currently paying out of your paycheck for private insurance (minus the profits the middlemen and stockholders need to extract to make it worth their while)?
Instead of health care premiums, how about taxes? I certainly won't mind that.
BTW, on your previous posts about administrative costs, according to Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare has a 2-3% overhead while private insurance has a 14% overhead (varies from 12-14% for most insurance companies, up to 20% for many larger companies and can be up to 30% for individual plans). According to a study by New England Journal of Medicine (2003), on average, the total administrative part of health care spending in the USA is 31%. In other words, we're talking about nearly $775 Billion dollars a year in administrative costs. This is a major area where costs could be reduced but nothing is being done about it.
sure medicare 'overhead' is a lower percentage
but what does that have to do with the cost of CARE
if I go to a doctor and he/she charges me $100 and I pay $100 ..what percenatge went to the insurance or government for 'overhead'....NOTHING
Quote:
Instead of health care premiums, how about taxes? I certainly won't mind that
why
why sould I pay taxes for a health care..when I dont go to a doctor???
I want incuranse (corporations) AND the government (antother corporation) out of the health care business
my health care and its cost should be between ME and MY DOCTOR....not some insurance or government shill
Really? Gee, I work in a doctor's office an I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know that.
Sarcasm aside, what does that have to do with single-payer? BTW, except for a few specialists, doctors don't have their own private MRI and X-ray equipment. In fact, I don't know any who have their own MRIs.
Office space, supplies, and utilities are a small fraction of the cost of health care. Ancillary staff salaries are a larger piece of it, but some of that IS admin. We have a couple people on our staff who do nothing but admin work, for a staff of 4 1/2 doctors. With single-payer, billing, referrals and the like would be much simpler and less expensive.
sure billing would be simpler and less expensive...but the cost of the care would not be
how can you say office space is a small fraction...that's a MAJOR cost
commersial real estate taxes and lease are twice what residential is
as far as the MRI..sure most general practicioners dont..but my orthopedist sure does
and most private doctors I have been to have their own xray, especially the pedatricians
sure medicare 'overhead' is a lower percentage but what does that have to do with the cost of CARE
It has to do with the fact that the same amount of money goes farther when the overhead is lower.
Quote:
if I go to a doctor and he/she charges me $100 and I pay $100 ..what percenatge went to the insurance or government for 'overhead'....NOTHING
Then you should go to the doctor who would charge you less. If you claim to be a fiscal conservative, wouldn't you want to maximize the impact of every dollar you spend? Or, is it about not worrying about wasteful spending?
Quote:
why sould I pay taxes for a health care..when I dont go to a doctor???... my health care and its cost should be between ME and MY DOCTOR....not some insurance or government shill
Ideally, you shouldn't. A lot of people don't. The problem arrives when you or they must. Then what? Again, ideally, the costs would be low enough for anybody to pay cash. But then, there are corporations pushing for credit and loans that push the costs, then there is the idea of insurance that has pushed the costs. Now just an MRI could set you back $4000. I just stayed with a family of two surgeons in India, and visited their workplace (a major private hospital in South India). An open heart surgery, would over a dozen of tests preceding that would cost about that much, including hospitalization. That kind of money, most people can pay in cash. How much would it cost here? Why should an MRI itself cost that much?
The real problem is that our society has been made dependent on a system that we can't do without anymore. This is the quick buck scheme at work, a bubble that will pop at some point, and with a LOT of pain for a lot of people. How do we fix it? Realize the dependency and support ideas that help us get away from it, gradually.
sure billing would be simpler and less expensive...but the cost of the care would not be
how can you say office space is a small fraction...that's a MAJOR cost
commersial real estate taxes and lease are twice what residential is
as far as the MRI..sure most general practicioners dont..but my orthopedist sure does
and most private doctors I have been to have their own xray, especially the pedatricians
Why would pediatricians need their own X-ray machine unless it's a huge group or they're far from a facility with an X-ray machine? My group doesn't have one, the group I took my kids to had an X-ray for all the docs in the building (>100). My group sends them down the hall to the hospital.
Office space may be a larger cost than say, pencils (supplies), but the major cost of any organization is: labor.
and why does that PROCEEDURE of getting an MRI cost 4k???
because the MACHINE itself cost 1.4 million dollars
and the tech that runs it has to make ATLEAST minimum wage
and then the DOCTOR/SPECIALIST has to READ(analyze) the MRI
it can take YEARS before that machine has even paid for itself..and you have the cost of the personnel and the electric to run it, on top of that
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