[quote=Djshakes]
Buddy, I’m a SFA for Scripps and handle all the capital acquisitions for two large entities in the system. This isn’t a debate in which I have any skin in proving what line item is a greater expense. Why would I care? However, when someone states something with no facts and I know the truth, I will prove them wrong.
I pulled all the data from a live pivot regarding PSA expenses. I emailed the system capital manager to get a yearly spend.
I have provided facts. You have provided guesstimates…..extremely wrong ones. Anyone that reads these posts will clearly see I know what I am talking about.[/quote]
Thanks for all this info. I have a question for you.
First, some background. The most recent data I’ve seen for the breakdown of health care dollars (goes back i think to about 2007 or 2008), shows that roughly 30% is for hospital care, roughly 20% for physicians and other clinical care, and 10% for prescription drugs. The next biggest is insurance company administration and profit at about 7%. (Given the decreases in insurance company medical loss ratios, i suspect that number has gone up over the last few years.) The rest is split among about 15 other categories the single largest of the remaining is nursing home care at about 6%, which I suspect will continue to go up as the population ages.
While I don’t believe there is any factual basis for bubbas assertion that infrastructure and financing costs are the single item driving the sharp increases over the last few years, do you think they’ve been significant within the segment that you’re associated with? Additionally, can you identify any particular category of costs that have increased sharply over the last 15 years?
I suspect there is no single cause for the increases. As I think I’ve said, some of it is related to cost of ever improving technologies, including pharma technologies. Some of it is increased consumption, partly due to an aging population. Part of it is insurance companies keeping an ever growing piece of health care dollars. And there are probably another 1/2 a dozen reasons for increases within particular segments.
