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by jays 2307 days ago
It’s hard not to appreciate the cost savings, saved lives, and benefits employees and employers would see from universal healthcare.

Has anyone seen any studies on the potential impact it would have on insurance and medical administration industries? i.e. lost revenue, jobs, etc.?

3 comments

> Has anyone seen any studies on the potential impact it would have on insurance and medical administration industries? i.e. lost revenue, jobs, etc.?

I wonder about this in the same way I wonder about a world where we have professional window breakers, and what effects it would have on the window repair industry if we stopped having people go around breaking windows.

Unfortunately, they can protest, lobby, and, shall we say, make unfortunate voting choices even after being unemployed, so it might be wise to rethink that opinion. Any changes that are made need to be gradual enough to allow them to transition to other careers or political instability will follow.
New Jersey gas pumpers seem like a close approximation here. They provide a legally mandated service which I find makes my day worse.
Many of us appreciate these benefits, just we think that they would not come to fruition.
Yes, in the study. TLDR: extensive severance, retraining, relocation, and retirement programs for less than the amount of money saved.

"Improvements in system efficiency, such as reductions in billing tasks, will involve a contraction of the workforce. Although the country will benefit from lower costs, 936 000 administrative positions and 746 600 positions in the health-care insurance industry are estimated to become redundant. However, detailed transition plans have suggested either funding for early retirement options, extensive severance, retraining programmes, and relocation expenses for all workers in these sectors. Implementation of such a plan is estimated to cost $61·5 billion annually over 2 years, a sum which would be recouped within the first year by the health-care savings estimated here."