Health insurance is not why health care is expensive in America.
A new report from the Manhattan Institute explains that health insurance can be expensive because spending on hospital and physician services is high. Insurers are considered unpopular because they bear the main responsibility for controlling this spending – but their doing so saves consumers money and focuses resources toward better care.
The report has three key findings:
- Health insurance accounts for only a small fraction of American health care costs.
- Money that insurance companies spend on administration reduces overall cost of the health care system.
- In the Medicare system, private plans give enrollees better quality medical care at 10% less cost.
Chris Pope, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, says, “Eliminating the overhead costs incurred by private insurers would not reduce the cost of health care, ; it would cause wasteful spending to soar.”
Read more here.