On Fri, 9/18/09, Lance Christie <atl@frontiernet.net> wrote:<p>

This Letter to the People has 395 words in its body, less the
salutation and signature.<p>

3018 Old City Park Road
Moab, Utah 84532
September 18, 2009<p>

Editor, Moab Times-Independent<p>

For the people who have been scared into thinking the current health
insurance reform proposals before Congress will lead to government
take-over of health care, reducing quality and availability, here's a
few facts:<p>

65% of all health care costs in the U.S. are now paid by federal or
state government health insurance systems: Medicare, Medicaid,
Veteran's Administration, Department of Defense for the armed forces
and dependents, and the Children's Health Insurance Program.  The
average administrative overhead cost for these government single-payer
programs is 3.5% of each health dollar spent.  The average
administrative overhead cost for the 1,200-odd private health
insurance carriers selling policies in the USA is 21%; the state of
Maine found the average for health insurance carriers doing business
in that state was 27% in 2005.<p>

Customer satisfaction surveys find Americans receiving medical care
paid for by these government single-payer health insurance systems are
more satisfied on average with access to and coverage of medical care
than privately-insured customers.  Surveys in 22 industrialized
nations with national health insurance systems, none of which allow
for-profit health insurance companies to operate, also show higher
levels of citizen satisfaction with their health care than U.S.
private-insured people report.  The average overhead costs of these
non-profit national health insurance systems worldwide run between 0.5
(Japan) and 4 (France) percent.<p>

A 2009 survey of over 2,100 practicing physicians by Mt.  Sinai
medical center found that, on average, physicians found dealing with
government single-payer insurance entities preferable to dealing with
private insurance companies.  Physicians do not like the lower rates
of reimbursement involved from the largest government programs,
particularly Medicaid, but they suffer less time, expense and hassle
to get reimbursement from government insurors than private ones.  This
probably explains why 63% of these practicing physicians favored a
public option health insurance plan be available in the U.S., and
another 10% advocated the U.S. go to a single-payer government health
insurance plan like Canada's.<p>

The Center for Rural Affairs at the University of Nebraska's study
found a non-profit public health insurance plan's premiums would be
16-30% lower than private U.S. health insurance plans.  The Center
found that a non-profit public health insurance system could produce
41% savings in U.S. health care costs with probable increases in
service quality and availability.  We need improvement: the
U.S. ranked 34th among nations in 2007 in health care outcomes per
healthcare dollar spent.<p>

Sincerely,
Richard Lance Christie, Moab <p>