Reproduced from Kaiser
Family Foundation; Chart: Axios Visuals
The cost of private health insurance is out of
control, compared to Medicare and Medicaid. You see that clearly if you take a
long-term view of recently released federal data on health spending.
Why it matters: This is why the health care industry — not
just insurers, but also hospitals and drug companies — is so opposed to
proposals that would expand the government's purchasing power. And it’s why
some progressives are so determined to curb, or even eliminate, private
coverage.
By the numbers: Per capita spending for private insurance has
grown by 52.6% over the last 10 years.
·
Per-capita spending
for Medicare grew by 21.5% over the same period, and Medicaid 12.5%.
·
Private
insurance generally pays
higher prices for care than Medicare, which generally pays more than Medicaid.
·
There’s a long-running
debate about whether public programs deliver efficiency because of their
purchasing power, or simply underpay.
·
Democrats have
proposed a variety of steps to curb health care costs, including cutting
payments for out-of-network care, competition from a public insurance plan, and
steep payment cuts through Medicare for All.
·
Industry opposes most
of them.
The bottom line: The industry knows cutting government spending
can only go so far. Any effort to rein in health care costs will have to
confront the growth in the cost of private insurance.
No comments:
Post a Comment