Monday, September 5, 2011

I visited a friend last night...

...at the VA hospital in the western suburbs of Chicago. The facility looked a lot like any other hospital to me (and I've seen my share in the last couple of years): clean, modern, etc.

My friend, Andy, who just turned 70 (and is a veteran, of course), broke his foot on August 5, was admitted immediately and had surgery on August 10. He was told he'd be in the hospital for another six to eight weeks after the operation before he'd be released. While Andy seemed happy enough with the care he'd been receiving, he did complain a little about the food. (Then again, I can't think of anyone -- besides my son -- who doesn't.)

But, as I said, the VA hospital seemed like any other hospital I've been inside lately. Which makes me wonder, Would "government-run" health care really be so bad?
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1 comment:

  1. Ed CrottySeptember 6, 2011 at 11:22 AM

    http://www.joepaduda.com/archives/001836.html

    Let's tackle cost first. The CBO's most recent report indicates the VA does a much better job controlling cost than the private sector delivery system (used by Medicare). According to the CBO,

    "Adjusting for the changing mix of patients (using data on reliance and relative costs by priority group), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that VHA's budget authority per enrollee grew by 1.7 percent in real terms from 1999 to 2005 (0.3 percent annually) [emphasis added] .2 Though not the decline in cost per capita that is suggested by the unadjusted figures, that estimate still indicates some degree of cost control when compared with Medicare's real rate of growth of 29.4 percent in cost per capita over that same period (4.4 percent per year)."

    In contrast, the private insurance sector [pdf] saw premiums increase over 70% over the same period (I know this isn't exactly apples-to-apples, but no matter how you slice the apple, 70% is still a lot more than 1.7%)

    How about patient satisfaction? Again, the VA scores better than the private sector.

    "In 2005, VA achieved a satisfaction score of 83 (out of 100) on the ACSI for inpatient care and 80 (out of 100) for outpatient care, compared with averages for private-sector providers of 73 for inpatient care and 75 for outpatient care...For VA, the scores for inpatient and outpatient care were 84 and 83, respectively, while the average scores for the private sector were 79 and 81."

    as they say, "read the whole thing" - but the VA appears to be providing HIGHER quality care at a much lower price.

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