Linda Davenport – 1/31/07

This page was last updated on February 1, 2007.

Focus on the billing process; Linda Davenport; Beaver County Times; January 31, 2007.

An editor’s note alleges, “The writer is a registered nurse.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“The National Coalition on Health Care reports that our nation spends 4.3 times the amount on national defense as we do on health care, $1.9 trillion in 2004, even as 47 million Americans are uninsured.”

[RWC] How is the spending on healthcare relative to national defense a relevant fact?

As I’ve shown before, the “47 million Americans are uninsured” claim is BS.

“Although we spend more on health care than any other nation, our statistics prove we do not have the best results.

“The problem is not what we spend but how we spend it. State legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell need to lead the search for a better health delivery system by investigating the problem, not soliciting advice from those that stand to profit such as drug and insurance companies.”

[RWC] When she mentioned “those that stand to profit,” did you note Ms. Davenport failed to mention hospitals, doctors, and nurses? Are we to believe doctors and nurses like Ms. Davenport donate their time?

“Due to multiple payers, 25 percent of health-care costs are in billing. Think of it. At work there is a benefits manager seeking out the best deals and setting up employees in the plan.”

[RWC] Isn’t “seeking out the best deals” a good thing? If the government takes over the healthcare system, as Ms. Davenport apparently wants, what mechanism will be in place to make sure taxpayers get the best deal? As far too many persons, Ms. Davenport doesn’t believe the free market is the solution to the problem.

“Go to the doctor. Any office employs a full-time billing person. In any testing, therapy or hospital visit, the first stop is at the desk to register insurance. Later, your paperwork goes through the billing department.”

[RWC] So, there won’t be “a full-time billing person” required when the practice sends bills to the government? Are we to believe doctors don’t employ anyone to send bills to Medicaid, Medicare, et cetera?

Government programs don’t have a good record for minimizing administrative overhead. For example, The Washington Post reports, “the hours Americans collectively spend complying with the [federal] tax code each year has surpassed 6 billion and the annual cost of complying has more than doubled to $265 billion.”

“Think it stops there?

“Each nursing unit at the hospital employs a nurse and or social worker to see that patients qualify for the bed they occupy and the tests that are ordered.”

[RWC] Ms. Davenport wants us to believe the same is not true for Medicaid, Medicare, et cetera patients.

“Finally, your bill reaches the insurance company where some of the best-paid nurses work. Their job is to make sure the doctor didn’t order a colonoscopy to fill his quota of patients for the day; surely, the patient record shows a bloody stool or other indication for the test.”

[RWC] Is Ms. Davenport telling us the government won’t make the same checks to make sure we taxpayers won’t get soaked for ill-advised or unnecessary tests, procedures, drugs, et cetera?

“Health care is big business and it shouldn’t be. It is about keeping each of us at our optimum level of well being, and for that dollars need to be spent where they count — on people’s health, not the billing process.”

[RWC] You can use Ms. Davenport’s “logic” about nearly all businesses. Should the government take over farming? What about producing clothing?