There’s an “extremely high level of waste” in federal health spending,

Up to One-Third of Health Spending Is ‘Waste,’

The freshly departed head of the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services told the New York Times: “Much is done that does not help patients at all,” said Dr. Donald M. Berwick, who was temporarily appointed by President Obama to head CMS. “And many physicians know it.”

Berwick listed five reasons for the waste, as reported by the NYT: “overtreatment of patients, the failure to coordinate care, the administrative complexity of the health care system, burdensome rules and fraud.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/up-to-one-third-of-health-spending-is-waste-former-cms-head-tells-nyt/