Administrative Costs for Private Insurance Statistics

Please add any statistics for this topic below. Generally, administrative costs for our multiple private insurance system run 30%. This is a statistic that has been repeated over and over. Perhaps it is difficult to believe that we are paying that much just to administer our broken system.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2003/august/administrative_costs.php

ELIMINATING THIS WASTE WILL PAY FOR THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF A MEDICARE LIKE SYSTEM FOR ALL.

Switching to a single payer system would save that 30%. Using the Medicare system which is already in place would mean virtually no start up time!! THIS IS THE REAL FRAUD AND WASTE IN THE SYSTEM.

See Bill Moyers on this.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05222009/profile2.html#sites

DR. DAVID HIMMELSTEIN: Somewhere down the line, we do. But at this point, we do so much useless and even harmful medical care. And we waste so much on bureaucracy. That we could actually do everything that we know is useful for every American for what we're now spending. Ten years from now, with my colleague's inventiveness in figuring out expensive new things to do. We're going to have to come to grips with that. But right now, we could reform this health care system. Do everything that's helpful for every American for what we're now spending.

DR. SIDNEY WOLFE: Here's an example of what David's talking about. Over the last 30 plus years there have been maybe two and a half, three times more doctors and nurses. Pretty much in proportion with the growth in population. There are 30 times, 3-0 times more health administrators. These people are not doctors. They're not nurses. They're not pharmacists. They're not providing care. Many of them are being paid to deny care. So, they are fighting with the doctors, with the hospitals to see how few bills can be paid. That's how the insurance industry thrives by denying care, paying as little out as it can, getting the healthiest patients, and yet getting reimbursed as though these patients were sicker than they really are.

So, it's a system that is guaranteed to waste a lot of money. And what we've said is that the amount of money that's just being wasted in one year is enough to pay for more than enough of the premiums for those that are uninsured and the people that are underinsured. So, it's not a matter of bringing more money. I mean, the industry is now saying, "We could save $2 trillion over the next ten years. Let us. Trust us. We will lower our costs and everything." The amount that can be saved over the next ten years by just eliminating the health insurance industry is $4 trillion, in one fell swoop.

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