Replying to a message of JIM WELLER to BOB ACKLEY:

 BA>>> In countries that have socialized health care (aka
 BA>>> 'universal' health care) the actual costs of providing
 BA>>> that care are hidden

 JW>> How is it hidden? The federal budget is a public document.

 BA>> The true costs of providing the care don't appear on the
 BA>> bills.

 JW> I tend to disagree with that point. I will concede though
 JW> that the health budget which is supported by insurance
 JW> permiums, often runs a deficit and the shortfall is covered
 JW> by general revenue. But that is also true of Unemployment
 JW> Insurance, most years until recently, which is supposed to
 JW> be self-supporting too.

There are a lot of costs that can be buried in other departments.
For instance, the cost of utilities, the cost of common supplies
such as paper towels and office supplies, the cost of computers
and the people that run them, the cost of the HR department, the
cost of maintaining the building and grounds, security, laundry etc.
In fact the cost of just about anything not directly related to patient
care can be buried someplace else.

You can also contract out a lot of services - laboratory and imaging,
for instance, and list those costs as ordinary contractual expenses
and put them anyplace in the budget.

Bureaucrooks and politicians can get very inventive when their goal
is to hide the actual cost of something.

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