The following appeared in The Nation, November 16, 2004:
"Early this year, a comprehensive study published in the International Journal of Health Services reached this stunning conclusion: 'The United States wastes more on health-care bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to all its uninsured.' The authors, Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein, associate professors at Harvard Medical School and founders of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, went on to write: 'Administrative expenses will consume at least $399.4 billion of a total health expenditure of $1,660.5 billion in 2003. Streamlining administrative overhead to Canadian levels would save approximately $286 billion in 2002, $6,940 for each of the 41.2 million Americans who were uninsured as of 2001. This is substantially more than would be needed to provide full insurance coverage."
--"Single-Payer: Good For Business," by Morton Mintz, The Nation.
. . .But if you'd rather take W's word for it, go right ahead. Meanwhile, here's hoping your kids stay healthy this flu season.
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