In the health care insurance debate, there is one issue that seldom gets addressed— the issue of health-cost ratios. Even though many health care insurance corporations are designated as not-forprofit organizations, how often do we examine with transparency the percentage of premium payments from subscribers that actually gets spent on health care services (hospital fees, doctor bills, pharmacy expenses, etc.)?

In other words, when we consider the cost-benefit of a public health insurance option, we should know: With these private insurers, how much of our health care premium payments is going to corporate overhead? This figure represents an implicit cost we are paying to have the security of our health care.

A major criticism of public insurance options has been that there will be a deficit burden on Americans. But are we not “paying” (increasing our personal debt) when we fund the overhead of not-forprofit corporations?

At the very least, these insurance corporations should have to publicly disclose —and The Buffalo News should publish —this information on health-cost ratios.

James Shiffner

Buffalo