Oct 16th, 2009 - MiamiHerald
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Sen. Tom Harkin, leader of the powerful Senate Health Committee, said Friday that vast differences in Medicare costs -- as those that exist between the high-cost Miami and lower-cost areas -- must be ended to make for sensible healthcare reform.
``These huge disparities can't continue,'' said the Iowa Democrat in a teleconference sponsored by the consumer group Families USA.
Dartmouth studies have shown that the average Miami senior costs almost two-and-a-half times a senior in Minneapolis, due at least partly to more specialist visits and more intense care in the last six months of life.
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