My understanding of what that Doc had said seems to be inaccurate. It is not surprising that people remember statistics out of context and get it wrong---both the Doc and/or me, in this case.
Found this on attached site.
How Much Do We Spend on End-of-Life Care?
It's not surprising that individuals in their last year of life consume a disproportionate share of medical resources.
A. 1% of the population (3 MM) accounts for 30% of the nation's health care expenditures ($780 MM or $252,000 per capita vs. $5,941 per capita for other 99%).
. . . .1. Nearly half of those people (1.5 MM) are elderly. (ed: does not say what portion of that $780 MM is associated with the 1.5 MM who are 'elderly')
B. Medicare...spends nearly 30% of its budget ($156 B of $525 B) on beneficiaries in their final year of life. (ed: this would equate to 6% of total US medical spend. We DK how much the 'private' and 'state' spend on that 'last year of life' might be.)
C. Slightly more than half of Medicare dollars are spent on patients who die within two months. (ed: perhaps this means that $79 B of that $156 B is spent in the last TWO months; meaning the other $77 B are spent in the first months (10 Max) of that 'year of death', i.e. spending accelerates near death).
D. Although Medicare costs for services have continued to rise over the years, the proportion of payments for persons near death in relation to Medicare's total budget has changed little....Their findings belie perceptions that a larger percentage of medical expenses are accounted for...by expensive technology.
E. Nearly one third of terminally ill patients with insurance used up most or all of their savings to cover uninsured medical expenses such as home care.
F. 27 to 30% of Medicare payments cover the cost of care for people in the last year of life. (ed: this seems to be a restatement of 'B')
G. 40% of Medicare dollars (ed: presumable the portion of those dollars paid to people in the ''last year of their life') cover care for said people in their ''last month''. (ed: since in 'C' we saw that the last two months were 50%+ or about $63 B, then the next-to-the-last month must be about 10-12% of the year or about $16 B, and the other ''months'' in that last year must have averaged 5%+)
H. 12% of Medicare spending covers people who are in the last two months. (ed: presumably this refers to all Medicare spending on all recipients, so the 12% for two months extrapolates to $63 B, $56 B or the 30% for the last ''year'').
I. 10% of Medicare beneficiaries account for 70% of program spending.
J From a different Source: http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads//highlights.pdf
. . . . 1. Total Med Spend is $2,600 B in 2010
. . . . 2. Federal Gov’t spend ($754 B) is 29% of total; Medicare ($525 B) is 70% of that, Medicaid is rest
. . . . 3. Pvt Business spend $546 B or 21%
. . . . 4. Out-of-pocket is $728 B or 28%
. . . . 5. Other must be $156 B or 6%
This post was edited on 5/19 3:42 PM by Old_alum
Ch 13
