Lots out there recently about the myth of Medicare efficiency: http://rossputin.com/blog/index.php/taking-apart-the-medicare-efficiency-myt
(1.) The calculation doesn't factor in tax collection costs. Medicare is funded through a forced deduction from your pay via the Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, which takes a flat 2.9% of your income. (2.) The calculation counts private insurance services such as disease management "admin costs". (3.) Most importantly, the calculation is faulty best seen by this analogy: Imagine, for a moment, that Fred and Jane each have a credit card from a different bank. Fred charges $5,000 a month, and Jane charges $1,000 a month. Suppose it costs each bank $5 to produce and send a plastic credit card when the account is opened. That $5 administrative cost is a much lower percentage of Freds monthly charges than it is of Janes, but that does not mean Freds bank is more efficient. It is purely a mathematical artifact of Freds charging pattern, and it would be silly to compare the efficiency of bank operations on that basis. Yet that is how many analysts compare Medicare with private ins ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:302433 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
