Medicare For All Could SAVE $600 Billion Annually, on Bureaucratic Waste

[appalachiablue]

- Study: Medicare for All Could Save $600 Billion Annually on Bureaucratic Waste.- Jake Johnson, Truthout, Jan. 8, 2020. Excerpts:

Insurers and healthcare providers in the United States spent a staggering $812 billion on paperwork and other administrative burdens in 2017 alone, bureaucratic costs that could be dramatically reduced by switching to a single-payer system like Medicare for All.

That’s according to a study published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, which found that administrative costs amounted to 34.2 percent of total U.S. national health expenditures in 2017 — twice the amount Canada spent on healthcare administration that same year. The study’s authors noted that U.S. healthcare providers impose “a hidden surcharge” on patients “to cover their costly administrative burden.” U.S. insurers and providers spent $2,497 per person on healthcare administration in 2017 while Canada spent just $551 per capita, the study found.

“The average American is paying more than $2,000 a year for useless bureaucracy,” said Dr. David Himmelstein, lead author of the study and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). “That money could be spent for care if we had a Medicare for All program.” If the U.S. brought spending on healthcare administration to Canadian levels, the study found, it could save $600 billion a year on total national healthcare expenditures.

“Medicare for All could save more than $600 billion each year on bureaucracy, and repurpose that money to cover America’s 30 million uninsured and eliminate co-payments and deductibles for everyone,” Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a senior author of the study and co-founder of PNHP, said in a statement.



Himmelstein echoed that point in an interview with TIME. “The difference [in administrative costs] between Canada and the U.S. is enough to not only cover all the uninsured but also to eliminate all the copayments and deductibles, and to amp up home care for the elderly and disabled.” “And frankly,” he added, “to have money left over.”

In 2017, *$812 BILLION* spent on administration by health insurers and providers. That's 34% of US health expenditures!! US spending on administration (per capita) nearly 5-fold ↑ than in Canada ($2497 vs. $551) Interesting new study in @AnnalsofIMhttps://t.co/4iscg9j2BS pic.twitter.com/6q9xyM7iLI — Rishi Wadhera (@rkwadhera) January 7, 2020

The study, which is the first comprehensive analysis of administrative costs in the U.S. since 1999, was published as the debate over healthcare reform continues to feature prominently in the 2020 Democratic presidential race.

..“Reforms like a public option that leave private insurers in place can’t deliver big administrative savings,” Woolhandler said. “As a result, public option reform would cost much more and cover much less than Medicare for All.” Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen highlighted the new study on Twitter and noted that it undercuts insurance industry fearmongering about the supposedly enormous costs of implementing Medicare for All.

“Industry wants you to think universal healthcare is too expensive,” Public Citizen tweeted. “In reality, it’s our current system that’s a wasteful, unsustainable disaster.”..

https://truthout.org/articles/study-medicare-for-all-could-save-600-billion-annually-on-bureaucratic-waste/

[Prosper]

1. Any I say any spending benefits the economy and leads

into prosperity.

[blm]

2. Kerry's healthcare plan in 2004 addressed the same issue - dealing with scores of insurers and

their various forms is a COLOSSAL waste of health dollars.

[msongs]

3. first lets put all congresspersons over 65 on medicare and take away all their supplemental

plans

[AncientGeezer]

4. Still....it's math, saves $600b of the $800+B in paperwork costs. Ok

Still $200+ bil of paperwork and that's without providing the medical side....the costly part....

Before you ask....yes I read the article....none of us posting on this forum today will see a Canadian plan here(mentioned in the article)....want to lose elections....tell American voters they will have a Canadian type health care plan.
We got beat like baby seals after ACA in '10 and '14.....even Sen. Warren is barely talking about M4A......because of the costs.

[appalachiablue]

6. The coming election year is pivotal; This will be included

in an explanation of prevailing conservative attitudes and the present state of American society and economy for younger family members to consider as they seek opportunities outside the US in order to survive. 350 years and call it a day.

[dpibel]

7. Still...it's math

The $800 bn is already being spent. Saving $600 bn is saving $600 bn.

"Without providing the medical side" is pure non sequitur.

[Hoyt]

5. I would think that Warren and Sanders' proposals and projections have already taken some,

if not all, of that into account.

While I am against featherbedding in any industry, keep in mind that most of those costs are salary/wage costs.

So, you gotta figure in something for that aspect. It's not just insurance employees that would -- assuming the study is anywhere close to accurate -- not be needed. It's billing staff in physicians' office, hospital employees, pharmacy employees, etc.

But, there would clearly be some admin savings. Much of that would occur fairly quickly as people choose a Public Option, which I still believe is the fastest way to something close to Medicare-for-All because people are going to want to try it out first.