IAHCInefficient government programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Health Insurance Exchanges, etc.)

Mar
19

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Root causes of high costs

In 2012, federal, state, and local governments spent over $1.3 trillion on health care, 47% of total NHE. The Medicare and Medicaid programs accounted for $1 trillion of this. Inefficiencies most often cited include:
• Flawed payment systems (e.g., FFS, rate-setting processes that overpay for specialists and procedures)
• Poor insurance practices driven by political considerations (overly generous benefit plans, limitations on plan designs that raise cost, etc.)
• Inept administration (e.g., the prevalence of Medicare fraud, last fall’s well-publicized problems with www.healthcare.gov and this spring’s VA crisis)