In article >, wrote:

> In rec.food.cooking Steven P. McNicoll >
wrote:
>
> > It's the other way round. Free market competition keeps cost down and
> > service up.
>
> Not always. One of the biggest problems with the private health care
> system in the states is that the overhead for preparing insurance forms
> and paperwork is staggering. I just spoke with a tech at a blood lab
> in my neighborhood and she said they spend hours every day just doing
> paperwork after the doors close at night. My sister who's a psychologist
> in private practice also echoed the same concern to me on several occassions,
> the she spends hours doing insurance paperwork, which could better be
> spent treating patients.


Medicare administrative costs: 2%

Average administrative costs of H.M.O.'s 15%

New York Times, January 28, 2004, page A 25 (National Edition)

In article
>
, Werner J. Severin > wrote:

> In article >, wrote:
>
> > In rec.food.cooking Steven P. McNicoll >
> wrote:
> >
> > > It's the other way round. Free market competition keeps cost down and
> > > service up.
> >
> > Not always. One of the biggest problems with the private health care
> > system in the states is that the overhead for preparing insurance forms
> > and paperwork is staggering. I just spoke with a tech at a blood lab
> > in my neighborhood and she said they spend hours every day just doing
> > paperwork after the doors close at night. My sister who's a psychologist
> > in private practice also echoed the same concern to me on several
> > occassions,
> > the she spends hours doing insurance paperwork, which could better be
> > spent treating patients.
>
>
> Medicare administrative costs: 2%
>
> Average administrative costs of H.M.O.'s 15%
>
> New York Times, January 28, 2004, page A 25 (National Edition)

Are you saying a doctors billing costs are included in the HMOs
overhead ?

Did the article compare fraud costs ?

jay
Tue Feb 03, 2004

In article >, Go Fig >
wrote:

> > > > It's the other way round. Free market competition keeps cost down and
> > > > service up.
> > >
> > > Not always. One of the biggest problems with the private health care
> > > system in the states is that the overhead for preparing insurance forms
> > > and paperwork is staggering. I just spoke with a tech at a blood lab
> > > in my neighborhood and she said they spend hours every day just doing
> > > paperwork after the doors close at night. My sister who's a psychologist
> > > in private practice also echoed the same concern to me on several
> > > occassions,
> > > the she spends hours doing insurance paperwork, which could better be
> > > spent treating patients.
> >
> >
> > Medicare administrative costs: 2%
> >
> > Average administrative costs of H.M.O.'s 15%
> >
> > New York Times, January 28, 2004, page A 25 (National Edition)
>
> Are you saying a doctors billing costs are included in the HMOs
> overhead ?
>
> Did the article compare fraud costs ?

Please continue this discussion in an appropriate newsgroup.

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:59:18 GMT, (Werner J.
Severin) wrote:


>http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1623
>*
>Public Citizen * Physicians for a National Health Program*
>
>Jan. 14, 2004
>
>Study Shows National Health Insurance Could Save $286 Billion on Health
>Care Paperwork:
>
>Authors Say Medicare Drug Bill Will Increase Bureaucratic Costs, Reward
>Insurers and the AARP
>
>A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Public Citizen to be
>published in Friday¹s International Journal of Health Services finds that
>health care bureaucracy last year cost the United States $399.4 billion.
>The study estimates that national health insurance (NHI) could save at
>least $286 billion annually on paperwork, enough to cover all of the
>uninsured and to provide full prescription drug coverage for everyone in
>the United States.

You actually expect the government to have less bureaucratic cost?
Pan Ohco