I agree that the figure includes administration costs. CMS won't tell you that US physicians are paid 2x-3x more than they are in Europe, but OECD numbers will. CMS won't tell you about upcoding and overprescription, but the Dartmouth Atlas will. Meanwhile: the CMS picture will at least tell you that the majority of spending in our system is in on the provider side, and not in either prescription or insurance.

Again: I'm not out on a limb with these claims. I'm literally just remembering things Jonathan Gruber told Derek Thompson on a podcast, then looking up and bookmarking the numbers to confirm them. Many of the most popular message board narratives about healthcare disintegrate in the face of even these simple CMS numbers!