Michael Bennet’s health care confusion

July 17th, 2009 | by Brian Schwartz |

From 9 News:

[Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado)] says people can’t handle the double-digit health care cost increases they are seeing each year and that the people who have insurance can’t keep covering the costs of those who don’t and who are then treated in the emergency room which he called “the most expensive brand [of health care] you can have.” …

“If people want to keep their doctor, they ought to be able to do that. If they want to keep their insurer, they ought to be able to do that,” he said. “[As for a public option] if it looks like Medicare, then we’ll have done nothing to hold down costs or to increase quality of care.”

OK, I’ll give him credit for recognizing that Medicare is a bad idea. But Bennet still likes the idea of a “public option.”  Yet, according to the Lewin Group, about two-thirds of those with private insurance through their employer would lose it.  (”about 107.6 million workers and dependents would
lose the private employer coverage they now have.”) (See here and here.)

Also, so long as the “public option” forces taxpayers to fund other people’s insurance, why is this worse than insurance people “covering the costs of those who don’t”?  Because it’s still robbery, but just not as much?

Bennet does not mention how Medicaid and Medicare increase insurance premiums. As I noted earlier this week, Bloomberg reports that:

Inadequate reimbursements by programs such as Medicare and Medicaid increase the annual cost of covering a family of four by $1,788, according to the report, issued today by the actuarial consulting firm Milliman Inc.

For more on that, see here.  And the uninsured?  Urban Institute researchers found that the

uninsured people received $35 billion in uncompensated care in 2001, or about 2.8 percent of total personal health care spending

I’ve noted before that in Colorado, that health care that the uninsured do not pay for is just $85 annually per privately-insured resident.

(via Diana Hsieh)

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  • Terry Hunt
    Mr. Schwartz you are quoting the Lewin Group.
    You know the Lewin Group is owned by United Health Care, one of the biggest for profit health care providers in the country


    I consider this an example of the logical fallacy known as Poisoning the Well. That is, Lewin's association w/ United Health Care does not discredit the results. Lewin also did work for the Colorado 208 Commission and, I think, had good things to say about single payer. (Shoudl check on that.) In any case, there are other studies by the CBO and another group (cannot recall) that show crowd-out, but to a lesser extent. (I saw a news article about this, should have bookmarked it.)

    In any case's it's wrong for government to compete with commercial enterprises. It's also wrong for government to discount insurance products via the tax code. This just coddles insurance companies.
  • Jacqueline Sue Sumners
    I support a single payor health care system, like Medicare, for everyone.

    Brian replies: Interesting. Why is that?

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