quote: WENDELL POTTER: The industry doesn't want to have any competitor. In fact, over the course of the last few years, has been shrinking the number of competitors through a lot of acquisitions and mergers. So first of all, they don't want any more competition period. They certainly don't want it from a government plan that might be operating more efficiently than they are, that they operate. The Medicare program that we have here is a government-run program that has administrative expenses that are like three percent or so.
BILL MOYERS: Compared to the industry's--
WENDELL POTTER: They spend about 20 cents of every premium dollar on overhead, which is administrative expense or profit. So they don't want to compete against a more efficient competitor.
I have family who have worked both in hospitals and with finding care for elderly individuals through either in home nurses or assisted living facilities.
I have always heard that Medicare is very inefficient. There is lots of red tape, waste, and it is an example of how government run health care would be broken.
But this quote shows that there is only 3% administrative cost with Medicare compared to 20% in private insurance companies.
Can anyone verify those figures or discuss them? I would like to learn more.
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Heritage - Medicare costs As with most numbers, they are fudged on both sides so we really don't know what is the true cost.
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