Maine
Who among us cannot be ashamed that more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance and millions more have inadequate coverage? How do we spend twice as much as anyone else while being the only developed nation not to provide universal health coverage for its people?
The high cost of private insurance billing is one part of the problem. A recent study published in Health Affairs (www.pnhp.org/Kahn/kahn_galley.pdf) shows that 1 in 5 health care dollars goes to billing and paperwork. A 2003 Harvard study pegged these costs at 31 percent of U.S. health spending — about $400 billion — vs. 17 percent in Canada.
It is no surprise that our fragmented health care financing system is very inefficient and wasteful. Dozens of insurance companies have their own departments for enrollment, exclusions, referrals, billing, sales and marketing. Add to this massive duplication of effort the cost of huge salaries to CEOs, and shareholder profits generated by minimizing payments for patient care services.
The money squandered is more than enough to cover the uninsured and to eliminate exclusions, co-payments and deductibles that often bankrupt even insured families in the face of serious illness.
Only single payer national health insurance can squeeze the bureaucratic waste out of health care and use the savings to give patients affordable, high-quality and comprehensive care without waits.
As a member of Physicians for a National Health Program, I urge everyone to learn more about how to deal with our health care crisis by visiting www.healthcare-now.org.
John Benziger
South China