<http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/11/insurance_companies_by_the_numbers/index.php>Insurance Companies: By the Numbers
By <http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/profile/tgitlin>Todd Gitlin - September 11, 2009, 9:33AM http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/11/insurance_companies_by_the_numbers/index.php A major reason why a sensible health system has been throttled for decades: insurance companies, which thrive best when they deny care; insurance companies, which line the pockets of the people's legislators. Here are <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/dsm-07.pdf>some numbers to bear in mind, and inscribe on signs, and pass out on flyers, and send to your friends, doctors, uncertains, Blue Dogs, Black Cats, whatever, during this fall's home stretch: Total expenditure by private insurance companies, 2007: $331 billion Total expenditure on administrative costs + profits, 2007: $95 billion Percentage of total expenditure spent on administrative costs + profits = 29% By contrast, here are 2007 figures for Social Security and Medicare administrative costs: <http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/admin.html>Social Security = 0.9% <http://institute.ourfuture.org/files/Jacob_Hacker_Public_Plan_Choice.pdf>Medicare = 3%* The people who run these companies may not be "bad people," but their institutional interest is not the public's interest. Not. The. Public's. Interest. * The Right disputes the Medicare figure. But nobody, nobody, claims that Medicare's true administrative costs are anything like 29%. ------- Todd Gitlin Professor of Journalism and Sociology and Chair, Ph. D. Program in Communications Columbia University The Journalism School Room 201F New York, NY 10027 Phone: 212-854-8124 Fax: 212-854-7837 E-mail: [email protected] www.toddgitlin.net --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
