October 06, 2009

Government run health care (*again*)

One of the arguments FOR the public option is the insurance companies rejecting claims. Said public option would somehow be better.

Beverly Gossage, Research Fellow for Show-Me Institute and founder of HSA Benefits Consulting wondered which insurance companies rejected the most claims. She found her answer in the AMA’s own 2008 National Health Insurer Report Card. Well now this is interesting

The Medicare denial rate found in the study was roughly 1.7 times that of all of the private carriers combined.


You would think Medicare's sheer size might enable it to have smoother procedures with its providers that would enable it to turn down a lower percentage of claims.

Why should Americans accept the idea of a government-run system when, based on documented government experience, they will be more likely to see their claims denied?

Lest we forget almost every state run system has refusals to treat in the first place! Which is currently against the law in hospital emergency rooms in the U.S.

2 comments:

flyingvan said...

I tried to find it in the Insurer Report Card but couldn't. The only line that showed 'denials' Medicare was bad at 6.8%, but some of the privates were similar. Where in there is the 1.7 times the privates put together?

Unknown said...

The Medicare denial rate found in the study was, on a weighted average basis, roughly 1.7 times that of all of the private carriers combined (99,025 divided by 2,447,216 is 4.05%; 6.85% divided by 4.05% =1.69).