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SURVEY OF SMALL AND MID-SIZED BUSINESSES, March 27 - April 1, 2007
The number of companies offering no health benefits at all has increased from 2000 - 2007 by 25%. In 2000, 24% of companies surveyed offered no employee benefits. In 2007, 30% of companies surveyed offer no benefits at all.
for this National Small Business Association National Survey CLICK HERE
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HOW DOES HEALTH CARE SPENDING IN THE USA COMPARE TO OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES?
Health spending per capita in the US is 24% higher than in the next highest spending countries, and over 90% higher than in many other countries that would be considered to be global economic competitors. And, with over 15% of gross domestic product (GDP) devoted to health, the US is committing a substantially greater share of the economy to the health sector. The mean per capita expenditure in 2003 for 18 other OECD nations (for which data could be collected) was $2958 as opposed to the $6711 per capita in the USA. While the US spent 15.2% of GDP on health care (which millions of citizens cannot access) the average as percent GDP for the other 18 OECD nations was just 9.3% (with a standard deviation of just 1.2% - there is SOMETHING SPECIAL WITH RESPECT TO COSTS AND THE US SYSTEM.
The growth in health spending in the US is among the highest for developed countries also. After adjusting for inflation, health spending per capita grew at an average annual rate of 4.4% between 1980 and 2003. Over the same period, health care spending as a share of GDP in the US increased by 6.4 percentage points, a larger gain than seen in other countries that were analyzed. Despite these levels of spending, the US does not provide greater health resources to its citizens or achieve substantially better health benchmarks compared to other developed countries [EINO: in fact much worse according to WHO benchmarks]. The growing gap between health spending levels in the US and other higher-income countries all of which provide universal health coverage may encourage policymakers to look more closely at how our health care dollars are being spent and the value we are getting for those dollars.
For the OECD Health Data published for 2006 CLICK HERE
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WHY HAVE SO MANY US PLANTS MOVED A FEW MILES OVER THE BORDER TO CANADA?
GM, Kraft and others have clearly seen that you can’t compete with the 93% savings on medical care which comes from hiring in Canada. How about being the first US state to establish an efficient stable system for universal health care, why wouldn’t business come flocking to that state? Small business leaders will be freed from being coerced into spending half of their time acting as health care brokers -when its other business they are motivated about and in which they have expertise.
From KPMG get their document CLICK HERE
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IN US HOSPITALS, EMERGENCY CARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION
By Don Snyder
Data from the American College of Emergency Physicians, which represents 23,000 ER doctors, paints a chilling picture of a system in decline. The capacity of the nation's emergency systems has decreased by 14% since 1993, as more than one thousand hospitals have closed their emergency departments nationwide. Meanwhile, demand continues to increase, with 114 million ER visits reported in 2003, the highest number the CDC has ever recorded.
Doctors interviewed for this article unanimously decried the deterioration of emergency care and see a single-payer universal health plan as the answer. They point out that government programs could meet important health needs and operate with less overhead than private plans designed to make profits and satisfy stockholders.
Dr. Peter Viccellio, the head of the emergency department at Stony Brook University Hospital, says Medicare operates with a 3% overhead compared to private insurers who spend 30% on overhead. Stony Brook University Hospital spends $15 MIL dollars a year on billing because the private plans are so different and criteria for payment so complex. A single payer system would eliminate the need for each hospital to operate its own billing department. "I could vaccinate a lot of kids with the $15 million our hospital would save," said Dr. Viccellio.
This article is from FOX NEWS of May 1, 2006 and may still be available at
CLICK HERE
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A GROWING HOLE IN THE SAFETY NET: PHYSICIAN CHARITY CARE DECLINES AGAIN
By Peter J. Cunningham and Jessica H. May
Continuing a decade-long trend, the proportion of U.S. physicians providing charity care dropped to 68% in 2004-05 from 1996-97, or by more than 10%, according to a national study from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). The ongoing decline in physician charity care is alarming given the increase in the number of uninsured people, particularly during the first half of the decade. Declines in charity care were observed across most major specialties, practice types, practice income levels and geographic regions. Increasing financial pressures and changes in practice arrangements may account in part for the continuing decrease in physician charity care.
This article is from Center for Studying Health System Change of March 2006 and may still be available at
CLICK HERE
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1 The first 5 of these six attempts are described
in detail in John Geyman's book (see
pages 310 - 316. The sixth attempt is the post-Clinton attempt, both state
work and the Conyers Resolution "Health Care Access Resolution".
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