> Medicare for all would get rid of high private insurance premiums, but it would also raise payments by people who are currently uninsured, and would have higher payment levels than Medicaid. So the decrease in provider payments would, in total, be something like 10%, which could be compensated by lower administrative costs, since hospitals would have fewer insurance companies to deal with.
Your numbers are completely out of whack. First of all, Medicare pays rates that are below COGS. That means that, at the current reimbursement rates, providers wouldn't want to see more Medicare patients; the more Medicare patients they see, the faster they lose money.
I have no idea where you're pulling this 10% number from. But administrative costs due to private insurance companies are nowhere near 10% of total reimbursements - that's an absurd figure. Most administrative costs have nothing to do with the number of insurance companies you're dealing with; it's to do with the overhead of providing care and billing[0]. Reducing the number of payers doesn't reduce that fixed cost.
[0] Yes, billing is still an issue with Medicare. How do you think Medicare knows how much to pay providers in the first place?
Your numbers are completely out of whack. First of all, Medicare pays rates that are below COGS. That means that, at the current reimbursement rates, providers wouldn't want to see more Medicare patients; the more Medicare patients they see, the faster they lose money.
I have no idea where you're pulling this 10% number from. But administrative costs due to private insurance companies are nowhere near 10% of total reimbursements - that's an absurd figure. Most administrative costs have nothing to do with the number of insurance companies you're dealing with; it's to do with the overhead of providing care and billing[0]. Reducing the number of payers doesn't reduce that fixed cost.
[0] Yes, billing is still an issue with Medicare. How do you think Medicare knows how much to pay providers in the first place?