A few quotes from a report put out by National Center for Policy Analysis...

"Of the 46 million nominally uninsured, about 12 million are eligible for such public programs as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
They can usually enroll even at the time of treatment, arguably making them de facto insured. About 17 million of the uninsured are living in households with at least $50,000 annual income. More than half of those earn more than $75,000, suggesting that they are uninsured by choice. Although 36% of people in families with incomes under 200% of the poverty level are uninsured, 44% have private coverage, and there are reasons to believe that expansion of private coverage is a better avenue to greater access to care than expansion of public programs."

This report covers all those arguements about countries with nationalized medicine having better health and health costs and debunks them almost totally.

This section is very interesting...


"Are Administrative Costs Higher for Private Insurance Than Public Insurance?

The Congressional Research Service has estimated the administrative costs of Medicare at 2% of the total program costs, compared to 10% for private insurance and 12% for HMOs. Some single-payer advocates have used this estimate as an argument for a universal Medicare program. These estimates ignore hidden costs shifted to the providers of care, and the social costs of collecting taxes to fund Medicare. A Milliman & Robertson study estimates that, when these costs are included, Medicare and Medicaid spend two-thirds more on administration than private insurance spends on administration: 27 cents, compared to 16 cents, respectively, for every dollar of benefits.
According to Himmelstein and Woolhandler, if the US adopted the Canadian system, the savings on lower administrative costs could pay for insuring the uninsured.

Their calculation includes the cost of private insurance premium collection (advertising, agents' fees, etc.), but ignores the cost of tax collection to pay for public insurance. Danzon estimates the deadweight cost of tax finance in Canada to be at least 17% of claims. Using the most conservative estimate of the social cost of collecting taxes, Zycher calculates that the excess burden of a universal Medicare program would be twice as high as the administrative costs of universal private coverage."


Interesting reading for anyone who has the time.

http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/sp_Do_Other...he_Answers.pdf