HOW MUCH EXTRA ARE THESE COSTING US ?

Private health care with its high CEO pay, profits, and high administrative costs.

The utilization of emergency rooms and hospitals for, routine care.

The lack of preventive care.

The uninsured and under insured that get severely sick because they can't afford food or medicine.

Tax Subsidies to employers for private insurance for their employees.

Fraud

Lack of price controls on drugs

All other industrialized countries have a single-payer system, and they spend less than half what we do on health care, and they cover everybody. It would only take $50 billion to cover the uninsured. Doesn't it make sense, that we could save about 40 percent of what we now spend.

Health Care Costs in America

In America we will spend $1.8 trillion on health care in 2004.

That's $1.8,000,000,000,000

In 2004 Health Care will be 15% of our GDP. We will spend $6000 on every person in America. This is more than twice what any other industrialized country will spend. We also spend 3-4 times as much on prescription drugs. The government's share is sixty percent of the 1.8 trillion or $1 trillion. The private sectors share is $800 billion and only 50 percent of that reaches doctors and hospitals.

How does the government spend its share:

Medicare costs $300 billion annually

Medicaid costs $300 billion annually

The government also has costs for the VA, the Military. Community Hospitals, Government employees, Workman's Compensation, and if that is not enough the government subsidizes employers to pay benefits for their employees. Removing the subsidies and tax deduction for medical expenses would alone save between 100-200 billion dollars.

Bureaucracy in the health care system accounts for about a third of total U.S. health care spending--a sum so great that if the United States were to have a National Health Care Insurance Program, everybody under one risk pool, the administrative saving alone would be enough to provide: health care coverage for all the uninsured in this country (45 million), pay for full drug coverage for seniors, upgrade coverage for tens of million who are underinsured, and provide free education for our health care providers.

The U.S. has about 300-400 HMOs and about 1500 insurance companies. Very costly and very inefficient.

Medicare has a 2% overhead, Medicaid has a 5% overhead, Non-profits average 14%, and For-profits average 20-30 %.

The GDP is a good indicator to help explain how health care expenses have risen faster than the rest of the economy. Our GDP is about $11 trillion. Since 1999 the GDP has risen about 10% and health care about 50 %. In 2003 the inflation rate increased about 2 %, wages 2.5 %, and health care 13 %.

How Would a Single-Payer System Reduce Healthcare Costs?

Instituting a single-payer program for essential universal coverage and eliminating for-profit healthcare would:

Reduce administrative waste

Cut medical waste

Control prices

Slow the rate of inflation

Eliminate profits from our healthcare dollars

Encourage preventive care and produce healthier people

Reduce Fraud

Reduce the number of people going to emergency rooms for care

Eliminate tax subsidies and tax deductions for employers to cover private healtcare insurance for employees.

The United States spends about 20-25 percent of total health expenditures on Administration. A single payer could reduce it to about 3-5 percent or between $200-$300 billion each year. A single-payer could not write checks to for-profit HMOs or PPOs because they would have administrative and profit costs. Managed care would have to be eliminated from a single payer essential health care plan. Payment would go directly to physicians, and to hospitals by means of global budgets.

Prominent medical experts have estimated that medical services of no benefit; unnecessary surgeries, inappropriate invasive diagnostic studies, and excessive prescription drugs could amount to as much as 20 percent of total health care costs. With a single payer system we could have global budgets for hospitals that are efficient and do not encourage patients to stay longer than necessary. For physicians we could eliminate capitation, salary (without bonuses), and mixed payment methods. Physicians would receive payment directly from the government and be able to practice medicine as they see fit. Capitation is a poor method to pay doctors for their services and this is a primary way HMOs and PPOs do it. Salary with bonuses; for hard work, high quality, and for providing patients reasonable access to appointments would be a good way. Paying bonuses for home visits and preventive care is a method for saving money and saving lives. Keeping everybody healthy saves money.

Global budgets for hospitals and controlling drug prices (which we have no way to do it now) would help us control cost under a single-payer. Global budgets would be very effective in controlling inflation by how much the overall budget is increased every year.

The many single-payer systems in the world control cost far better than we do. We need to cover everybody like they do and provide quality health care like they do. We can do this with money saved from eliminating much of the waste and returning health care to the healthcare providers and the patients.

Health Care Coverage is Predicted to Rise in Double Digits Again

Health care coverage will rise sharply again according to some government and activists groups. The absurdity of the whole thing is that most politicians want to spend more money on a dysfunctional system. The explanation for this is that many vested interests want to profit from the present for-profit market-based health care system. These vested interests donate large sums to political campaigns to keep the status quo. In reality, market-based and employer-based health care cannot cover our health care needs. There are many reasons for the public to be alarmed and these following reasons are cause to get involved:

Health care premiums will probably jump again by double digits in 2005.

Health care premiums are rising 4-6 times faster than inflation and wages.

We are going to spend about 1.8 trillion on health care next year.

Only 50 percent of for-profit health care dollars are going toward health care.

Employees pay up to 48 percent more for their share of company plans.

Private health care systems are paying excessive CEO’s salaries.

45 million people are uninsured, and at least 50 million more are underinsured.

We have no way to bargain for lower prescription drugs.

People are going without medicine and food.

Horror stories abound.

Many Physicians are fed-up and want a national health care plan.

Many employers can’t afford to cover their employees so employers would like to see a national health care plan.

Unions are sacrificing a living wage for health care benefits.

The House and Senate Medicare prescription drug plans are a joke.

This administration wants to privatize Medicare.

States are searching for money to cover Medicaid.

Health care insurance companies are meddling with physician’s decisions.

No other industrialized country would treat their citizens this way. My son who lives in Scotland says people there think our system is barbaric. No other country is having such devastating problems. These other industrialized countries have higher life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates. No other industrialized countries have so many people uninsured. The World Health Organization ranks us 37^th in health care and 54^th in fairness.

The Tompkins County Health Care Task Force endorses a "Medicare-for-All" or a Single-Payer health care system. We hear some complaints about the Canadian System, but let me tell you a story. Canada had a private health care system similar to what we have now with 50 percent being uninsured. If you were affluent enough you received good health care. If you were not you had to depend on luck or somebody’s good will. Today they have a government run insurance plan and everybody is covered. Yes, they have problems, mainly because the federal government reduced the amount of their contribution from 50 percent to about 25 percent but the federal government has renewed its commitment to contribute more money annually. They also have committed to provide more money to increase technology and reduce waiting times. Canada’s system is not socialized medicine it’s like our Medicare system only it covers everybody. They do not tell physicians how to practice medicine. The cost for prescription drugs is about half what Americans pay, because everybody is working together to bargain for lower costs.

Ithaca has a health care reform organization called The Tompkins County Health Care Task Force. We have dedicated people who are committed to a "Medicare-for-All" single-payer system. We have members working with religious groups, others working with business and unions, and others working with the general public and activist groups. Call us if you want to get involved.

Contact us; it is possible to defeat those that have misled us. A single payer system will save money and cover everybody. It is estimated that we can save billions and have a health care system that provides high quality health care. So much is needed to take power away from the few and give it back to the American people.

Reduce administrative waste and eliminate high CEO's salaries