Memorize This

Posted on 06/13/2009 at 4:33 pm by Bob Cesca

When you’re talking about health insurance with your Republican friends or family, here are a set of numbers from Joe Conason that’ve been talked about often and absolutely need to be committed to memory:

The average overhead cost of Medicare is roughly 2 or 3 percent, far below the administrative costs of private insurers, which range between 27 and 40 percent.

Up to 40 percent of your monthly premium has nothing to do with paying your medical bills.

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  • Hielo in Mexico

    Well, you have to pay for the talent that runs these companies. Say….$10,000,000 or so. Also, they lose money when their high-rise office buildings depreciate. Then, they lose a billion or two in the stock market.The health denial industry is managed by the biggest frauds in the U.S.Yes. Even worse than the wasted skins on Wall Street.

  • http://arkytek.blogspot.com/ ∇•B=0  Goddamn Silly Ratfaced Git  ∇•D=ρ

    Plus they have to siphon off ‘profits’ for their stockholders. They are a middle man running a pooling the risks operation. Nothing wrong with this other than the overhead and profits have grown to unreasonable levels.This function is far better served with a not-for-profit operation that is run by administrators getting paid comfortable instead of lavish salaries.I’m sorry, no CEO is worth 26 million a year. They can’t even throw a football for Christ’s sake.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    I am currently assembling state-by-state data on malpractice suits. The number has declined across the country in the last few years. Yet malpractice insurance RATES shot up drastically over the same period — doctors are required to carry coverage and they are wealthy, therefore the insurance companies see a captive revenue stream. These are costs that have nothing to do with care OR tort reform.

  • cynicalgirl

    Add to that the $1,000 cost per year for those of us with insurance to pay for the guy without insurance. If both of those things are true, the people who are paying $400 per month today would be paying $200 per month under the public option.