# Salary cap for healthcare administrators **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616 "2014-12-18T22:39:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/21 "2014-12-19T22:11:21Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I have a Facebook friend who, along with her husband, did this kind of thing, when they were younger and very foolish. > > They were not allowed to own property for 10 years. You probably meant “No bank would give them a real estate loan for 10 years”. Which is a penalty, but it’s not the one you wrote, nor is it necessarily much of one. Plenty of people do just fine without ever owning real estate. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/22 "2014-12-19T22:16:35Z")
The problem is a lack of accountability. A salary cap doesn’t change that, there are plenty of other ways to waste money. The idea is well intentioned but pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/23 "2014-12-19T22:24:21Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Its considerably harder and more expensive to be a doctor rather than an administrator. Why not go after lawyers? The threat of lawsuits results in a lot of over-testing. Not really. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/24 "2014-12-19T22:43:55Z")
By “healthcare administrator”, does the OP mean “CEOs and top executives of health insurance companies”? [Because they do make a shitload of cash.](http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/healthcare/art2914.html) At Wellpoint, for example, top executives received pay increases of up to 75% in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/25 "2014-12-20T20:44:06Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Not really. Oh? > **[Has 'Defensive Medicine' Led to Overtesting?](https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/08/104284/has-defensive-medicine-led-overtesting)** > > It’s become common practice for the roughly 6 million Americans per year who go to emergency rooms with chest pain: Get a stress test or cardiac CT (computed tomography) scan before discharge. > **[Health care industry reacting to overtesting, overtreatment](https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2014/05/health-care-industry-reacting-to-overtesting-overtreatment/)** > > The American health care system wastes an estimated $750 billion a year, according to the Institute of Medicine. At a… [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37982567/ns/health-health\_care/t/docs-blame-lawsuit-fears-overtesting/](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37982567/ns/health-health_care/t/docs-blame-lawsuit-fears-overtesting/) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/26 "2014-12-22T00:12:53Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Umm…probably don’t understand the question. What is a healthcare administrator? > > If my children are sick, I take them to a GP (General Practitioner). If they are really sick he refers them to a hospital. It happened when my precious baby girl had a rinovirus infection. Terrifying for us as parents but she was treated and saved. > > No payment of any kind required, just our tearful thanks to the doctors and nurses. > > Thats normal for everybody surely. Ha. No offense but your level of ignorance is unbelievable. Do you seriously actually think that you received a service for which you did not pay? The hospital billed your insurance company probably for dozens and dozens of procedures at a total cost of three times higher than every other industrialized nation on earth, and the insurance company in turn billed your employer, and your employer in turn pays you less than otherwise possible to make up the difference. Do you seriously not understand how this works? I was under the impression that every Highschool taught economics in the 10th or 11th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/27 "2014-12-22T00:30:38Z")
> [@The\_Niply\_Elder](#): > > Ha. No offense but your level of ignorance is unbelievable. Do you seriously actually think that you received a service for which you did not pay? The hospital billed your insurance company probably for dozens and dozens of procedures at a total cost of three times higher than every other industrialized nation on earth, and the insurance company in turn billed your employer, and your employer in turn pays you less than otherwise possible to make up the difference. Do you seriously not understand how this works? I was under the impression that every Highschool taught economics in the 10th or 11th grade. I’m guessing **Ken001** doesn’t live in the US, since here almost all doctors visits involve some sort of co-pay. Sure the money comes from somewhere, but in many places you pay the doctor in the same sense as you pay the cop who comes to help when you have a car accident. BTW, you don’t seem to understand the system either, because the insurance company does not bill the employer on a per-case basis. The employer’s payment to the insurance company is the same whether you have no claims or a dozen claims. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/28 "2014-12-22T00:34:18Z")
One approach might be to compare health-care expenditure with similar countries like Canada and Australia, to see where per-capita expenditure is significantly higher in the U.S. My guess is that if you did that, you’d find the biggest differences in the total cost are caused by: (1) health insurance expenditure, caused by higher profits for the health-insurance companies and higher expenditure on claim checking; (2) higher costs of pharmaceuticals in the U.S., since prices are more controlled by governments outside the U.S.; (3) higher salaries for physicians and surgeons, which in turn is partly caused by (4) higher costs of medical education. I don’t think that administrator salaries would contribute a significant amount, even if they are too high. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/29 "2014-12-22T00:44:35Z")
> [@The\_Niply\_Elder](#): > > Ha. No offense but your level of ignorance is unbelievable. Do you seriously actually think that you received a service for which you did not pay? The hospital billed your insurance company probably for dozens and dozens of procedures at a total cost of three times higher than every other industrialized nation on earth, and the insurance company in turn billed your employer, and your employer in turn pays you less than otherwise possible to make up the difference. Do you seriously not understand how this works? I was under the impression that every Highschool taught economics in the 10th or 11th grade. **Ken001** posts from New Zealand, so would not necessarily be aware of any of that, in the US system. In places like NZ, Canada and the UK, you go to the hospital, you get treated, and you don’t worry about bills or insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/30 "2014-12-22T01:12:00Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > **Ken001** posts from New Zealand, so would not necessarily be aware of any of that, in the US system. > > In places like NZ, Canada and the UK, you go to the hospital, you get treated, and you don’t worry about bills or insurance. Although they do have health-care administrators in NZ, and **Ken001** helps to pay their salaries – but indirectly, through general taxation like income tax and GST. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/31 "2014-12-22T01:16:54Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m guessing **Ken001** doesn’t live in the US, since here almost all doctors visits involve some sort of co-pay. Sure the money comes from somewhere, but in many places you pay the doctor in the same sense as you pay the cop who comes to help when you have a car accident. > > BTW, you don’t seem to understand the system either, because the insurance company does not bill the employer on a per-case basis. The employer’s payment to the insurance company is the same whether you have no claims or a dozen claims. Ok so he’s not participatory to the delights that is the US healthcare system, I incorrectly thought we were all taking about it here exclusively. And my post wasn’t meant to say that the insurance company bills their customer companies procedure by procedure, but in fact insurance companies do adjust the amount paid yearly by the customer companies, and furthermore a lot of companies are “self-insured” and utilize the insurance infrastructure only as a service provided by the insurance. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/32 "2014-12-22T01:27:41Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > The salaries that are huge, by world standards, aren’t administrators, but doctors. But in politics, you don’t screw with doctors. Haha! Big hospital administrators get paid WAY more than a majority of the physicians on staff at their hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616/33 "2014-12-23T04:02:48Z")
> [@The\_Niply\_Elder](#): > > Ok so he’s not participatory to the delights that is the US healthcare system, I incorrectly thought we were all taking about it here exclusively. And my post wasn’t meant to say that the insurance company bills their customer companies procedure by procedure, but in fact insurance companies do adjust the amount paid yearly by the customer companies, and furthermore a lot of companies are “self-insured” and utilize the insurance infrastructure only as a service provided by the insurance. And in NHS the amount the taxpayers pay depends to some extend on usage. But what each person pays is smoothed out and depends in some part on the ability to pay. My daughter lives in Germany, and I believe that she doesn’t have to pay the provider for a visit - though she does pay for insurance - a laughably small amount compared to here though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salary-cap-for-healthcare-administrators/707616.md?page=1)