Is Government Health Insurance Cheaper Than Private Insurance?

Is Government Health Insurance Cheaper Than Private Insurance?


This administration keeps repeating the argument that government health insurance will be cheaper than private health insurance. That is simply not true, and defies past experience.

To start with, look at Medicare and Medicaid if you want to see costs rising well beyond general health expense estimates. Many reasons account for this, but are conveniently overlooked when it’s politically necessary to do so.

One: Private insurance does a far, far better job of preventing outlandish fraud that generally envelops government programs.

Two: Private administration is much more efficient. When the government attempts to cuts its overhead costs, it does so by paying bills that it should not be paying. That is not efficiency.

Private insurers also create effective doctor and medical networks that government has heretofore not done to avoid errors, and probably will never accomplish. There are too many governmental agencies or quasi-agencies (such as the Post Office) to point to for examples.

Three: Government reduces operating costs by delaying or simply not paying for certain types of coverage. It may be done by age or what a consulting board says should be treatment standards. This is rationing that we know causes a loss of lives, by comparing American statistics with those of countries with socialized medicine such as the UK and Canada.