I wrote the following letter in response to a recent public radio opinion piece: Marketplace: Health rationing.
Soaring costs mean that the financial health of Medicare is deteriorating quickly. Commentator and health policy expert Jonathan Weiner says major surgery may be in order.
Jonathan Weiner, professor at Johns Hopkins in the department of Health Policy and Management, singled out Medicare as an example of a healthcare payor in need of cost controls. I believe his choice was unfortunate for two reasons: When comparing commons benefits, Medicare spending has traditionally grown at a slower rate than private health insurance spending (cf: “Comparing Medicare and Private Insurers: Growth Rates in Spending Over Three Decades,” Cristina Boccuti and Marilyn Moon, Health Affairs 22, 2 (March 2003): 230–237). Furthermore, Medicare administrative costs are only a fraction of private payor administrative costs.
Weiner was correct to highlight the high cost of healthcare in the US as compared with other western countries. However, in singleing out Medicare, he implies that this federal program is a significant cause of such costs. Representing only about 20% of personal healthcare spending, he would do his audience a service to examine systemic problems across the entire healthcare industry rather than criticizing one of the few successful US programs.
