The U. S. spends more than 15% of its gross domestic product on health care, while other industrial countries spend 11% or less. (And they provide coverage for all their citizens, while we don't!) We spend between 16 and 32 cents of every health care dollar on administrative overhead and investor profit for HMOs and insurance companies. Medicare only spends 3 cents of every dollar on administration (in part because it handles more dollars per enrollee because seniors have much higher health care costs than the general population). A unified health care financing system in Washington State will reduce total administrative costs to 11% or less, by simplifying billing and claims processing, and eliminating other administrative costs, such as marketing, advertising, lobbying, underwriting and exorbitant CEO salaries. This administrative savings amounts to about $2 billion per year that will now be available to pay for health services for all Washington residents.

Last updated on June 21, 2008 by HCFAWA