A recent Slate article -- aptly called 'Lemon Capitalism' -- about the price differences between public and private health care illustrates why further government regulation is needed:
A quote from Aetna Chairman Williams:
"A public plan would most likely employ the payments rates used in Medicare, which are far lower than the rates paid by private payers. In fact, the average family of four with private insurance spends an additional ,778 on health care each year because of Medicare and Medicaid underpayments to providers. On an aggregate level, commercial payers incur approximately billion more in costs than they would if public and private payers all paid equivalent rates."
Umm, doesn't that B more in costs for the private companies equate to B in savings for families, patients and those using the health care services?
Also, I didn't understand that one-fifth of the public health industry is run through Medicare. That makes it government-run. That makes it a public, federally-run program. We're already 20% of the way towards not only universal healthcare, but a single payer system!
