axolotl wrote:
On 1/25/2010 8:35 PM, John R. Carroll wrote:

McAllen Texas treats it's Medicare population - the most expensive
group known to man - for $7,500.00 a year.
Everyone involved makes a good buck.
Your coverage is crap compared to theirs and I'll bet ot costs your
employer 30% more.

John,

I'm not sure I'm understanding you. According to the New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...a_fact_gawande

The cost in McAllen is 15 grand- twice the cost in nearby El Paso.
Are you saying the most expensive Medicare cost is still a fraction of
what most people have to pay for health insurance? The article above
highlights some of the methods used to improve the cash flow while
providing average care.

Sorry Kevin, I got it backwards.
LOL
I was remembering exactly that article and couldn't find it here to quote
from.
I've just bookmarked it for the future.
What I've always wondered is whether our elected officials have read it.
You couldn't say that tort reform is a key to health care cost reductions
after reading it and yet that is the first thing out of many mouths when
rapidly increasing costs come up.

Karen Ignani and three health care CEO's were interviewed as part of a
Frontline (IIRC) show. I'll see if I can find a link and post it.
What they said is exactly what Gawande wrote.

--
John R. Carroll