It's hard to find an exact number, but it surprises most people that Medicare has a very good overhead cost percentage - between 2% and 5%, depending on who you

It's hard to find an exact number, but it surprises most people that Medicare has a very good overhead cost percentage - between 2% and 5%, depending on who you ask - which is miles better than any of the private sector providers. The numbers for the VA are similar. When you consider that they managed to do this without being able to use many of the cost-control tools that normal plans would be able to (like being able to use bulk to negotiate lower pharmaceutical rates), it's pretty amazing. Yes, government us usually quite inefficient - but they're got a pretty good record when it comes to health care delivery. As for TR Reid, he knows more than most about exactly how the UK's NHS works, and how it doesn't result in everybody dying - he lived in London for several years (he was the WaPo bureau chief there), and his son (who was in my son's history class) had several serious hospitalizations.