Cost Of Administrative Work Within Health Care System Drops Dramatically Within A Single-Payer System
A new study found that in Canada, a country with a single-payer system, the cost of administrative work is $551 per person, a year. In America, it's $2,497. Other news on costs looks at what states are --and aren't-- doing to keep health care affordable and more on surprise medical bills.
Los Angeles Times:
U.S. Health System Costs Four Times More To Run Than Canada’s
In the United States, a legion of administrative healthcare workers and health insurance employees who play no direct role in providing patient care costs every American man, woman and child an average of $2,497 per year. Across the border in Canada, where a single-payer system has been in place since 1962, the cost of administering healthcare is just $551 per person — less than a quarter as much. That spending mismatch, tallied in a study published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, could challenge some assumptions about the relative efficiency of public and private healthcare programs. (Healy, 1/7)
FierceHealthcare:
How Can U.S. Healthcare Save More Than $600B? Switch To A Single-Payer System, Study Suggests
The study could provide ammunition to proponents who are advocating for a change to a single-payer system, such as so-called "Medicare For All," which is being touted by some Democratic presidential candidates, including senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The idea is controversial, and some candidates have now backed away from Medicare for All and are advocating for a public option plan that keeps the current system of private insurers and makes Medicare available to those who want it. (Finnegan, 1/7)
Modern Healthcare:
Healthcare Affordability Neglected By States
States aren't doing enough to make healthcare more affordable for their residents, according to a report Tuesday from research and consulting organization Altarum. Nearly every state has expanded healthcare coverage in recent years. But many haven't made inroads on healthcare affordability, even though voters on both sides of the aisle say that it's one of their top priorities. (Brady, 1/7)
KCUR:
Getting Health Care In Kansas? Your Odds May Be Worse Here That You'll Get A Surprise Bill
A Kaiser Family Foundation study put Kansas in the five worst states for how often patients ran into out-of-network providers in 2017 during emergencies or during inpatient care at their in-network hospitals. The extra bills that land in their mailboxes often come as a surprise, and pile onto in-network medical costs that already have patients’ heads spinning. ...The Kansas Insurance Department doesn’t oversee the nitty-gritty details of insurer-provider contracts that might shed light on Kaiser’s analysis of Kansas claims. The kind of private insurance studied by Kaiser overwhelmingly falls under federal, not state, law. (Llopis-Jepsen, 1/7)
Bloomberg:
Blackstone-KKR Bid To Block Surprise Medical Billing Prompts Fury
Confronted with the rare prospect of defeat on Capitol Hill, private equity titans Blackstone Group Inc. and KKR & Co. unleashed a national advertising blitz last year against legislation that threatened their investments in health-care companies valued at $16 billion. The $53.8 million campaign sought to derail a crackdown on surprise medical billing, in which patients are unexpectedly hit with exorbitant charges, often following visits to emergency rooms. Television ads depicted patients in trauma being denied care and urged viewers to contact lawmakers, dozens of whom were identified by name. (Dexheimer, 1/8)
