U.S. healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year

[BR_Parkway]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59P0L320091026?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.

The U.S. healthcare system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, the report from Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, found.

"America's healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars, and the opportunities to slow the fiscal bleeding are substantial," the report reads.

"The bad news is that an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually. That's one-third of the nation's healthcare bill," Kelley said in a statement.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Yup, and most of the ideas out there could just make it worse...

Providers are paid for treatments, not cures, and until this miondset is changed nothing will change.

Whine about insurance companies and malpractice premiums all day long, but they are not why you can get billed 15 grand a day and up for a hospital visit.