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willbeurdaddy -> RE: Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year (10/27/2009 9:13:42 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: rulemylife
Anyone want to tell me again how we can't afford a health reform bill that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would cost $829 billion over a ten-year period?
Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.
The U.S. healthcare system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, the report from Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, found.
.......One example -- a paper-based system that discourages sharing of medical records accounts for 6 percent of annual overspending.
If the technology is there why isnt it being used and what makes anyone think the government could implement any better than the private sector?
"It is waste when caregivers duplicate tests because results recorded in a patient's record with one provider are not available to another or when medical staff provides inappropriate treatment because relevant history of previous treatment cannot be accessed," the report reads.
Some other findings in the report from Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters:
* Unnecessary care such as the overuse of antibiotics and lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure makes up 37 percent of healthcare waste or $200 to $300 billion a year.
Gosh and I thought tort reform was "proven" to have negligible costs.
* Fraud makes up 22 percent of healthcare waste, or up to $200 billion a year in fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services and other scams.
If they cant stop fraud now, they cant stop it when the grow the coverage. Show me some fraud prevention first.
* Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork account for 18 percent of healthcare waste.
see technology above
* Medical mistakes account for $50 billion to $100 billion in unnecessary spending each year, or 11 percent of the total.
stress the system by adding 30 million people and mistakes are going to go down?
* Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.
And what government miracle is going to prevent preventable conditions that isnt already being done?
Thank you for posting an article that substantiates that getting the government involved in anything but tort reform isnt going to save anything, and will cost money.
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