🚀 go-pugleaf

The Decline of America: Health Care (II)


    "Canadians pay [for their health care] *once* in taxes but get
    more care -- for $600 *less* out of each citizen's earnings. Last
    year our country spent $640 billion on health care. With a
    Canadian-style system, at Canadian rates, we could cover everyone
    for $365 billion."

"THERE'S NO WAY THE GOVERNMENT CAN PAY FOR EVERY AMERICAN'S
CARE WITHOUT RAISING TAXES THROUGH THE ROOF."

The federal government *would* have to come up with billions of
dollars more than the $115 billion it now spends on its health
programs for the poor and aged. Some could dome from income taxes,
some from luxury taxes on cigarettes or cosmetic surgery. In Canada,
several provinces charge a small monthly premium.

But before you reflexively holler "No new taxes," consider what you're
already paying. That grad total of $2,050 we spend per citizen doesn't
come out of thin air. It comes in dribs and drabs out of your  own
earnings -- in existing state and federal  taxes, insurance premiums,
payroll deductions, deferred wages, deductibles, copayments, and
ordinary cash transactions with doctors and hospitals. Canadians pay
their once in taxes but get more care -- for $600 *less* out of each
citizen's earnings. Last year our country spent $640 billion on health
care. With a Canadian-style system, at Canadian rates, we could cover
everyone for $365 billion.

============================================================
Medical costs as percentage of Gross Domestic Product:

                1980            1989            increase

U.S.:           9.2%            12%             + 30 percent
Canada:         7.4%            8.9%            + 20 percent
============================================================

============================================================
Percentage of premiums consumed by overhead:

Private Insurance Companies:              12% (overhead & profits)

Public payers (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid):   3%

Canadian provincial insurance plans:      under 1%
============================================================

==================================================
Billing, administration, and insurance
overhead as percentage of total spending:

U.S.:           22%
Canada:         13.7%
U.K.            11.1%
==================================================

"Since then, policies aimed at containing costs have increased
the bureaucratic share of health expenditures in the U.S. to one-quarter
of the total bill. Almost $90 billion could have been save in 1987
alone (enough to expand access to care to all Americans) if the U.S.
was as administratively efficient as Canada."

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"In Canada, according to the latest study, citizens each spent $18 a
year for "administrative" costs," while each of us spent $95 -- for a
total of $20 billion more than we would have with Canadian-style care.
That's not all. Our doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes spend much
more --$62.1 billion by a 1983 estimate-- filing out insurance forms,
billing patients, and collecting.citizen's earnings."

"Last year our country spent $640 billion on health care. With a
Canadian-style system, at Canadian rates, we could cover everyone for
$365 billion."

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For tons more info and documentation [ie footnotes for cited
information], use the GET command on the file named HEALTH INSURANC
[sic]

    ======================================
    To get a file named FILE NAME from the
    archiver (files are two words  separa-
    ted by a space), send the 1-line message

    GET FILE NAME ACTIV-L

    to: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET
    [or: LISTSERV@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU]
    ======================================

    Use GET with the file ACTIV-L ARCHIVE for a listing of
    files available with the GET command.

e.g., send GET ACTIV-L ARCHIVE ACTIV-L to LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET to be
emailed the index of archived files.