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Notes -
Oh I’m 100% with you on this.
The data my friend sent me was for a different year altogether, but at 3% per your example, that’s still quite consistent to the point that the health insurance industry isn’t sitting on mounds of cash when measured as a percentage of their annual profitability. In dollar terms yes, it’s still a lot; I’m aware.
The fact that that much also goes to the administrative layer is something I’ve suspected and doesn’t surprise me one bit. The growth in that sector is one of the major causes for the neoliberal shift in higher education as well, where a large proportion of that goes directly to. I was shocked years ago when one of my adjunct professors told me how much money (namely how ‘little’) her cohort makes, compared to the upper admins. On the one hand mediocre teachers shouldn’t make substantial salaries. Greater pay that’s untethered to performance causes people to want to go into education that have little interest in it. On the other hand, good teachers should be greatly rewarded for excellent performance. But then you have the problem of avoiding grade inflation.
But back to your point about hospitals specifically. George Halvorson pointed out a number of years ago, one of the largest causes of the growth in hospital costs at every point is just ordinary price inflation. Believe it or not. Cost of labor, cost of supplies, it’s enormous and ever-climbing.
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