Insurer overhead a large percentage of medical costs.

An article published in the Philadelphia Inquirer examines the administrative burden placed on physician practices in dealing with multiple insurance companies. A spokesperson at Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia—one of the region's largest specialty physician groups—estimates that 45 of the organization’s 350 non-physician employees do nothing but make sure payment is received for 230,000 patient visits a year. According to information from the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, payments for health administration in the United States, at 7 percent of overall spending, are double the average of the 30 member countries that share economic data. A recent study by the Medical Group Management Association found that "interaction" with insurers, other than for Medicare, costs medical practices in the United States $21 billion to $31 billion each year.
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