As the President reminded us the other night, Medicare is going broke. So why is modeling a system after Medicare even part of the discussion? Because it is politically popular, not because it is financially successful.
On 8/23/09, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: > > Lots out there recently about the myth of Medicare efficiency: > http://rossputin.com/blog/index.php/taking-apart-the-medicare-efficiency-myt > > (1.) The calculation doesn't factor in tax collection costs. Medicare > is funded through a forced deduction from your pay via the Federal > Insurance Contributions Act tax, which takes a flat 2.9% of your > income. > > (2.) The calculation counts private insurance services such as disease > management "admin costs". > > (3.) Most importantly, the calculation is faulty best seen by this analogy: > > Imagine, for a moment, that Fred and Jane each have a credit card > from a different bank. Fred charges $5,000 a month, and Jane charges > $1,000 a month. Suppose it costs each bank $5 to produce and send a > plastic credit card when the account is opened. That $5 > administrative cost is a much lower percentage of Freds monthly > charges than it is of Janes, but that does not mean Freds bank is > more efficient. It is purely a mathematical artifact of Freds > charging pattern, and it would be silly to compare the efficiency of > bank operations on that basis. Yet that is how many analysts compare > Medicare with private ins > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:302434 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
