Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSingle Payer would save billions for MA
http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/05/30/single-payer-health-care-would-save-billions-for-massachusetts/yNTLRlKucgdJCUCU3P5arM/story.htmlhttp://www.healthcare-now.org/single-payer-health-care-would-save-billions-for-massachusetts
The House and Senate health care proposals would set imaginary limits for spending growth enforced by secret improvement plans and wrist slaps for hospitals that overcharge; establish tiered payment schemes to consign the poor and middle class to second-tier hospitals and doctors; push most residents of the Commonwealth into HMOs (oops, we forgot, now theyre called accountable care organizations, or ACOs); and wipe out small doctors offices by bundling their pay into ACO payments. Apparently the legislators theory is that forcing health care providers to consolidate cuts costs. Oligopoly saves money?
Here are six alternative steps the Legislature could take that would actually save money while still preserving care.
■ Cut out the middlemen. Why exactly do we pay private insurers 10 cents of every premium dollar? The plan that covers all 13 million residents of the Canadian province of Ontario has overhead of only 1 percent. Adopting that single-payer approach in Massachusetts would save about $2 billion in insurance overhead in 2013 alone.
■ Pay hospitals the way we pay fire departments: real global budgets that cover all operating costs, not the per-patient schemes that are masquerading as global payments. Billing, collections, and paperwork consume nearly one quarter of hospitals revenues. Eliminate billing for individual patients and youd cut that nearly in half. The savings: about $3 billion in 2013.
<continued>
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 1410 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (6)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Single Payer would save billions for MA (Original Post)
eridani
Jun 2012
OP
K & R, now multiply x 50. Lets end the oligarchy & let it start with single payer!
mother earth
Jun 2012
#1
simply freeing employers from health insurance premiums would increase the job market a hundredfold.
stlsaxman
Jun 2012
#2
mother earth
(6,002 posts)1. K & R, now multiply x 50. Lets end the oligarchy & let it start with single payer!
It would be the beginning of true health care vs. rationed death care.
stlsaxman
(9,236 posts)2. simply freeing employers from health insurance premiums would increase the job market a hundredfold.
a MediCare Buy-in Option would do that. Am I right?
Romulox
(25,960 posts)3. But Massachusetts was the very model for the mandatory private insurance scheme...
Now you say it doesn't work?
xchrom
(108,903 posts)4. Du rec. Nt