Comment by onlyrealcuzzo
3 days ago
Assuming that your numbers are correct:
You eliminate ~1.2% of total healthcare spending on private insurance profits.
Then you eliminate ~37% of ~14% of ~27% total healthcare spending on insurance labor costs = ~1.5%.
* Article states medicare is ~37% more efficient.
* Insurance companies are required to spend AT LEAST 80% of premiums on actual patient care (~6% of the remaining ~20% are profits - already taken out in the previous ~1.2% of total health care spending).
* ~27% of total US healthcare spending is on private insurance premiums.
You end up with ~2.7% cheaper healthcare in the ABSOLUTE best case.
That's not moving the needle.
You are absolutely ignoring the fact that you don't just get cheaper care (and lets also remember that spending is inflated by the bullshit of insurance "negotiation"), but oh, now everyone has healthcare, not just those employed with a decent employer who provides it.
- That literally moves the needle. You don't want your healthcare to cost 2.7% cheaper? If you were buying a TV and Best Buy sold it for $1000 but Costco sold it for $973 you wouldn't buy it from Costco?
- Insurance companies being required to spend at least 80% of premiums on patient care logically incentivizes them to keep patient care costs high, because if costs go down then profit goes down. If your MRI costs $1000 then the insurance company is allowed to make $200 in profit. If your MRI costs $2000 then the insurance company doubles their profit to $400.
- Removing private insurance would give public healthcare far more negotiating power on costs. While there is a limit to profit margins made by insurance companies, there is no limit to the profit margins made by medical suppliers, pharmaceudicals, etc.
- Removing non-paying patients would reduce prices charged by hospitals. Hospitals are essentially sub-prime lenders making loans out where no assets are involved. They have to charge insurance companies more money to cover everyone else who doesn't pay. Moving to healthcare paid for automatically completely removes the issue of unpaid bills, collections, medical bankruptcies (how much do the salaries of bankruptcy courts, judges, lawyers remove from the healthcare system?).
- You're arguing against the established fact that all other countries besides the United States spend less on care. If the United States tried anything else it would be likely to reduce costs.