The Shame Of American Health Care

1. The Shame Of American Health Care Why We Don’t Get What We Paid For And How to Fix It

2. The Problem Is Simply This: The U.S. has a third rate health care system that costs more than any in the world.

3. We Rank 37th In Overall Health Care Performance World Health Organization report. 2000.

4. Of course if you can pay, you can get the world’s finest health care here in America. We're talking about care for everyday people.

5. Yes, in the whole world. Some examples: Health Spending per cap. OECD Report, 2006. Data, 2004.

6. A major reason is that private for profit health insurance companies play a far larger role in our system than in any other.

7. Private (Insurance) Out of Pocket Public Spending Health Care Expenditure per Capitaby Source of Funding in 2004Adjusted for Differences in Cost of LivingNot counting state and local health benefits $6,102 USA Netherlands OECD Median Japan Australia N Zealand Germany England France Canada $3,165 $3,158 $3,038 $3,005 $2,876 $2,546 $2,461 $2,249 $2,083 a b a a J. Cylus and G. F. Anderson, Multinational Comparisons of Health Systems Data, 2006 (New York: The Commonwealth Fund, Apr. 2007). A2003 b2002 (Out-of-Pocket)

8. Private for-profit health insurance is wasteful, inefficient and parasitic.

9. par·a·site something dependent on something else for existence or support without making a useful or adequate return

10. PNC Financial Services surveyed 200 hospital and insurance executives: • 96% of all claims must be submitted more than once • 1 in 5 claims are delayed or denied • Insurance companies go back to hospitals at least twice for each claim.

11. The Duke University Hospital has 900 beds and employs 900 billing clerks. Professor Uwe Reinhardt, Trustee. From PNHP

12. You have to deny a lot of claims to make that kind of money Profits of the top 12 health insurance and managed care companies, 2006 $13 Billion

14. Medicare and other public systems around the world have far lower administrative costs than private for-profit insurance companies.

15. Compare Wellpoint, the largest US health insurance company to the Ontario health system. Comparable in size but look at the difference in employees

16. Wellpoint and Ontario Million Members Employees Woolhandler et al NEJM 2003

17. Cost of Health Care Administration USA: 31% of all health care expenditures Canada: 16% New England Journal Of Medicine 8/21/2003.Steffie Woolhandler MD, MPH Terry Camphell MHADavid Himmelstein MD.

18. The Problem Is Private Health Insurance

19. Private insurance only works if most of the people who buy it never use it. For example, 80% of the people who buy life insurance let it lapse without collecting.

20. But, everyone needs health care

21. With what we are already spending, we can have a single payer system far better than Canada’s.

22. But how will we pay for it?

23. We have already paid for it twice over! $6,102 $3,165 $3,158 USA Canada France Per capita health care spending

24. The Polls Show There Is Support

25. Associated Press/Yahoo PollDec. 14th 2007 65 percent of Americans support extending Medicare to everyone. 54 percent are willing to identify themselves as single-payer supporters. 

26. MEDICARE FOR ALL H.R. 676