BS 840 and the Canadian Auto

I don’t have a dog in this fight, so what happens in CA makes no difference to me. What does amaze me is the number of folks who have no clue about the dynamics of health insurance, and have been sucked in by the propaganda of those in favor of BS 840.

Here is an editorial comment from one such individual.

Annual health-care expenditures in California from all sources now exceed $184 billion, with 19 percent consumed by administrative costs. By slashing these costs and utilizing the state's purchasing power to buy prescription drugs and medical equipment at reasonable prices, studies conducted by the Lewin Group, a health-care management consulting firm, project the system would provide high-quality care and result in savings of nearly $8 billion in the first year alone, and $345 billion between 2006 and 2015.

While I have always challenged the reputed admin figures, let’s assume for a moment they actually CAN save 19% in admin costs. What happens in 2 years when medical inflation wipes out those savings?

And for anyone who is keeping track, saving $8B “the first year alone” is only 4% of the $184B reportedly spent by Californians on health care.

So what happened to the massive savings that have been touted by promoters of BS 840?

But the plan is vulnerable to conservative counterattacks, including cheap shots from the health-care industry, which has been predicting a calamity if universal health care is adopted

Cheap shots, huh? Using your own figures to call in to question the validity of the plan is a cheap shot?

Many troubled companies in California need single-payer health insurance because their biggest foreign competitors have some form of national health insurance -- plans that cover all of their citizens at costs far below what Americans and the companies they work for are now forced to pay.

So, having a single payor health system, with 4% projected savings, will offset the $3 per hour wages being paid by foreign competitors.

Sure. I believe that.

Ford and Daimler-Chrysler's Canadian units, for example, have found that Canada's single-payer health insurance system covering their workers significantly reduces total labor costs by at least $1,700 per car, according to Ford CEO William Clay Ford.

That must be why there are so many Canadian cars on the roads now.

I sure am glad this is starting to make sense. For a moment, I thought it was just me . . .