Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Crazy Crap / Hannan Arthur Laffer Once Again Embodies Family Name
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 6:05 AM
Comments (6)
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Not sure where the "funny" is located, Caleb. I don't think the current administrations attempts to extend the TennCare/TriCare/Medicare framework to cover ALL Americans is very funny at all.
Scary is the word that springs to mind.
Medicare currently reimburses at rates as low as 60% on several common treatments. So doctors are forced to provide substandard care to Medicare/Medicaid recipients.
And what about the added costs of having to deal with the coming .gov bureaucracy? In the last 15 years, administration staffing(read: secretaries) levels have jumped by a literal order of magnitude.
http://www.capecare.info/img/pnhp_growthphysadmin.png
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Also, I often hear my Bongo Java friends rail on about how much "cheaper" .gov healthcare will be if it is based on the Medicare model.
Well, I will admit that I was stumped. Their numbers sure LOOKED cheaper, when compared to insurance companies. But when is the government cheaper than the free market? It just never happens. Never.
So I searched and found enlightenment. Turns out that the .gov medicine costs quite a bit more in administrative costs per patient than private insurance. But my Bongo buddies were just using statistics to tell a lie.
It goes like this:
m = Average expenditure of Insurance 500
n = Average expenditure of Medicare 50000
a = Average admin cost per expenditure on Insurance 25
b = Average admin cost per expenditure on Medicare 1500
total percentage cost on Medicare = b / n = .03
total percentage cost on Insurance = a / m = .05
"There are lies, damn lies, and then statistics"
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/upload/wm_2505.pdf
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And we haven't even touched on fraud.
Does no one remember TennCare? The Oxy epidemic was nearly entirely funded by TennCare. Doctor shopping plus smart hillbillies plus free health care meant momma could take care of her "back pain" and still make some rent money for the trailer.
Medicare/Obamacare will be no different. Estimates place 10% of Medicares costs in the fraud column. And no one really cares. I know you bloggers. You stay up late, watching crappy TV. You surely have seen advertisements for Medicare fraud. That is how common it has become. The "Scooter Store?" A measurable percentage of their business comes from creatively billing Medicare. Or fraud, if you want to be specific.
We get Obamacare, then we will have fraud(on a National level) that makes TennCare look like a pillar of efficiency. Stand by for lots more of this:
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou090422_mp_medicare-fraud.ffd0f8b8.html
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090701_jj_health-care-fraud-costs-billions.26368d32.html
Laffer ain't being funny.
There must be a god - to so appropriately named this guy Laffer. He's been the laughing stock of the reality based world for a generation.
Alfred, is that all you have? A throw-away article by some partisan hack? You can do better.
But I will play along.
You know we already have socialized medicine? Check out the nightmare known as Tricare.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45293
http://www.geocities.com/militaryhealthscam/
Do you really want to recycle catheter hoses? Or how about a nice unwashed and recycled colonoscopy tool?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/florida.va.facilities/index.html
Welcome to socialized medicine, Comrade.
