Nationalized health care would have saved Medicare an extra $34.1 billion in 2012, say advocates

[limpyhobbler]

May 10

A paper out today says that private insurance companies that participate in Medicare under the Medicare Advantage program and its predecessors have cost the publicly funded program for the elderly and disabled an extra $282.6 billion since 1985, most of it over the past eight years. They claim that in 2012 alone, private insurers were overpaid $34.1 billion.

That wasted money that should have been spent on improving patient care, shoring up Medicare's trust fund or funding the White House tours that had to be canceled due to the sequester.
...

Co-author Dr. Steffie Woolhandler said, "It's clear that having Medicare Advantage programs compete with Medicare doesn't save us money. In fact the opposite is the case. The private plans only add waste, and the aggregate waste is staggering – enough to be a significant drag on the economy.

"It's time we look to proven, cost-effective ways of providing high-quality care to Medicare's beneficiaries and to the entire population," Woolhandler said. "That means taking a fresh look at the single-payer model of reform."

excerpted from:
http://www.sciencecodex.com/private_insurers_medicare_advantage_plans_cost_medicare_an_extra_341_billion_in_2012-111996

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. NT