Time to shine a light on health care costs
In the health care debate, there is one issue that seldom gets addressed—that of health costs, not simply health-cost ratios as a Nov. 3 letter writer suggests. The New York Health Plan Association (HPA) welcomes a light being shone on what health care costs and what the key drivers of those costs are.
According to a recent survey of HPA plans, of the average health care premium in New York, 82 cents of each dollar goes to medical care. This includes physician and other provider costs as well as hospital costs. The remaining 18 cents is allocated for administrative costs, which include items such as disease management programs, systems to process millions of claims and investment in health information technology, in addition to personnel costs, broker commissions and statutorily required reserves.
Six cents of the 18 cents of the administrative total pays state taxes on health care—taxes that were increased by almost $800 million this year to an annual levy of more than $4 billion. This is money that adds cost to the price of health care premiums without adding any benefits or services.
As the health care debate continues, it should be noted some federal proposals include new taxes to pay for a government- run public option to compete with insurers. This would worsen the situation in New York, taking more of the health care dollar away from spending on medical services.
Paul F. Macielak
President & CEO New York Health Plan Association
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments