potential savings on insurance overhead is only 8% of premiums, not 11%. Zycher's argument assumes that expanding Medicare to cover all Americans would drive up the costs of all government agencies, Congress etc. -- an absurd assumption. Would we really raise the president's salary, or a senator's pay as part of implementing a single payer system? In fact, there is no reason to posit increases in any such costs, and the Canadian experience suggests that Medicare's overhead could actually be reduced to about 1% by simplifying hospital and physician payment. Additional information on Medicare's administrative costs: 2011 Primer on Medicare Spending and Financing Kaiser Family Foundation Administrative Costs The costs of administering the Medicare program have remained low over the years -- less than 2 percent of program expenditures. As such, program administration is not a contributing factor to Medicare's expenditure growth. Administrative costs include all expenses by government agencies in administering the program (HHS, Treasury, the Social Security Administration, and the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission). Also included are the cost of claims contractors and other costs incurred in the payment of benefits, collection of Medicare taxes, fraud and abuse control activities, various demonstration projects, and building costs associated with program administration. 2-The higher taxes needed to fund national health insurance would cause massive economic losses that more than offset any administrative savings. Zycher argues that every dollar collected in taxes by the government actually costs the economy about $1.76 because of foregone private investment. He wants to add a