“Medicare for All” would save the U.S $5.1 Trillion over 10 years

[u/The-Lucky-Investor]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/30/easy-pay-something-costs-less-new-study-shows-medicare-all-would-save-us-51-trillion

[u/0WatcherintheWater0 → u/[deleted]]

You don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re referring to administrative costs, which are not a good proxy for waste.

In fact, a number of studies suggest the amount medicare spends on administration is in fact far too low, driving inefficient provision of care.

Private insurance has less waste overall.

[u/0WatcherintheWater0 → u/[deleted]]

Providing the right amount of care to those who need it.

Theoretically we could spend $1 billion each on every single 100 year old to keep them alive indefinitely, but you would agree, that’s not a very efficient use of resources, is it?

[u/countdonn → u/0WatcherintheWater0]

So death panels that decide who lives and dies? Another boogieman brought up when discussing the horrors of universal healthcare. Both systems obviously engage in triage of resources.

[u/0WatcherintheWater0 → u/countdonn]

Death panels are actually the one thing that makes single payer healthcare systems even halfway work.

But care does need to be rationed one way or another, either by individual’s finances and willingness to take on debt, or by a central authority. I prefer the former.

[u/effdubbs → u/0WatcherintheWater0]

I don’t disagree that single payor may not be the solution. My point was that the wait time argument isn’t a great one, as the US also has wait times.

Regarding rationing of care, that is happening in the US in real time. It is rationed by insurance, indirectly through a Byzantine system, and by individual finances. Anyone who tells you otherwise either does not know or is lying.

[u/0WatcherintheWater0 → u/[deleted]]

And at too low a price, yes.

That is possible, believe it or not.