Medicare and SS move money around much more efficiently than any private system in terms of overhead. Sometimes innovation is a downside.
It seems like the real problem is that "insurance" has something to do with <$1000 bills to begin with. The overhead is negligible if the bill is going to be large enough to actually require being insured against, but then we use "insurance" for routine care that wouldn't otherwise be expensive enough to justify it and then no surprise there is unnecessary overhead.
> Medicare and SS move money around much more efficiently than any private system in terms of overhead.
They make the same argument about the IRS. Look how much money it "brings in" compared to the number of people it employees. Very "efficient" -- except that the money they take in was already the taxpayer's to begin with, so moving it around is net of zero and the only thing there is cost. And they don't count the overhead on the taxpayer's side of doing the paperwork either.
It's the same here. Most of the insurance paperwork is to prevent insurance fraud and determine coverage and prevent unnecessary procedures. It's not more efficient to pay for more unnecessary procedures and lose more money to fraud.
And you're still not going to beat the overhead of the patient going in for a $100 procedure, paying $100 for it, and never involving a third party to the transaction at all.
Meanwhile, 10/10 developed nation socialist healthcare systems are comparatively cheaper and better.
I'm not super impressed by well-written rationalizations in light of those facts.
... until Medicare is underfunded. And, if funding comes from Congress and is therefore a political football, do you really think that it will be adequately funded?
