I read through the Lewin report recently and stalled at the chart that showed the percentages paid by non-payers, Medicaid. Medicare and private payers:

28% of total costs in Colorado hospitals are devoted to serving Medicare patients, but Medicare pays only 81% of the costs of service

11% of total costs in Colorado hospitals are devoted to serving Medicaid patients, but Medicaid pays only 71% of the costs of service

9% of total costs in Colorado hospitals are devoted to serving indigent care for which no compensation is received

Those costs and underpayments don't just disappear, they get shifted to others.

Private payers (insurance companies and individuals) account for 46% of Colorado hospital costs, but pay a whopping 188% of the cost of service as a result of cost shifting from indigent non-payers, Medicare and Medicaid patients.

That cost shifting is a tax in sheep's clothing. The underpayments of and mandatory service required by government programs gets paid for by private payers in the form of inflated prices.

Now, the government is stepping in to fix the health care problem it's programs created(Medicare, Medicaid, mandatory care for indigent patients).

It's the old joke "We're here from the government to help."

Are you nervous yet?

• posted by Mark Sievers
• October 5, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
• Permalink

Actually, saying you have insurance is what matters most. Another old trick of government run health care. The fact that Medicaid beneficiaries struggle to get any kind of care (good or bad) is the fault of greedy doctors and hospitals, not reimbursements 40% below Medicare's. see http://mlyon01.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/note-to-medicaid-patients-the-doctor-wont-see-you/

• posted by Mike Bond
• August 22, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
• Permalink

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