Ideal Healthcare – Part 1
Can we handle the truth?
With all the current
controversy about healthcare, it’s time to point out what could be the best
possible solution to Health care in America. The Affordable Care Act (a.k.a.
Obamacare) may hold an ideological solution to healthcare, but not a
practical one. Regardless of party affiliation or current mental paradigm, we
have moved too far across the divide to turn back to the old ways. The two
dirty little truths are that we must face up to the fact that good healthcare
comes with sacrifice and that money doesn’t grow on trees. It is vital we set
aside our sacred cows, realize the common goal, then get to problem solving.
It’s well known that our
society is a benevolent one. We send financial aid to every corner of the globe
and most often we are the first physically available to assist. We also do the
same for our own citizens, but unfortunately not to the extent we wish to. Our
government is in a pickle, because it must act before current healthcare policies
are too entrenched and bogged down by a cumbersome expensive new system.
The ACA/Obamacare website has
already been experiencing roll-out inefficiencies, and soon it will have to
contend with huge cost overruns (see link below). This has the ire of a large
majority of people, with the list getting longer everyday. Nevertheless, I
would risk it to say that everyone in America truly wants to help out those
less fortunate. The key question is how will it work, still be efficient, and stay
within reasonable costs?
I believe there are three key elements to good cost
effective healthcare.
1) Healthcare must be
provided for all U.S. citizens.
2) Medical professionals must
be able to work in a profitable environment.
3) Insurance companies should
be excluded from healthcare.
1. For many years
the United States has led the way in areas such as economics and freedom. The
U.S. has also led the way in medical innovation, but it hasn't trickled down to
all its citizens to accomplish true healthcare leadership. Even though every
man woman and child is provided emergency care, whether they could afford it or
not, millions of dollars are wasted addressing the illness at the latest stages
of the illness. Preventative healthcare could reduce emergencies and serious
conditions before trauma and expensive medical costs spiral out of control. I
have to admit that this is one promising goal of Obamacare.
2. Doctors,
hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies must be able to function with a profit.
It is my contention that once healthcare becomes only a benevolent institution
it will fail. The reason is that there are only a few medical professionals bred
with internal philanthropic motivations but there are many more with monetary
motivations (see link below). If the system becomes a non-profit system, incentives
and motivation will vanish. Not only would the quality of care be lost, but
quantity of caregivers as well (think of long lines). Doctors and other
healthcare professionals provide a service that should be rewarded for their
talent. Just like the rest of us in our jobs. Unfortunately, Obamacare will
hinder this process.
3. Insurance companies
that facilitate the operation of healthcare should be obsolete. I believe we
must ask ourselves why we need insurance companies in the mix. The easy answer would
be that by grouping healthy people with sick people it will lessen the burden
on all people. But the insurance companies are only middlemen who don’t really help
with this process. Insurance companies make a profit speculating the risk of
those who will be sick and pocket the profit off that speculation. Where is the
direct health service?
I assert that the real insurance providers should be the
citizens of America. This means that we would still utilize the grouping
mentality as stated before, but instead our group plan is all of us. In other
words, we Americans are the one big
group plan paid for by us in the form of taxation.
After enacting the Affordable Care Act, we inadvertently
backed into what is known as a “single payer” – or more accurately, a
single-fund system. Since the government has been given authority by the
Supreme Court to tax every citizen (that pays taxes) for healthcare, the IRS can
now charge or penalize Americans through taxation. There is no longer a need to
involve an insurance company to profit from that same process.
An example of implementation would be as follows: The sick
person sees the doctor for free, the doctor and his/her clinic attends to the needs
of the sick, the doctor sends the invoice to a local branch of the HHS (health
and human services), the HHS sends the invoices to the IRS, and the IRS makes a
yearly adjustment in our taxes if required. That is where we ultimately pay the
bill. In our progressive tax system, the rich pay the most and the poor pay
little or nothing.
Those concerned with overspending might say, “Hey, the
doctors and hospitals will get away with sending in huge overblown bills, burdening
the taxpayer with astronomical increases.” The solution to this is where I
pointed out that the doctors would send the bill to the local HHS. It would be
a branch that is run by the local community; it would oversee funds, critique
and monitor any excessive income, and even provide rewards for those who stay
healthy. This would be much like the committees that handle a local utility
company profits…adjusting rates periodically due to extenuating circumstances
related to the region. It’s not perfect but it’s the best check on overreach.
These are three key elements for
good healthcare that would ultimately produce good service at a fair price, and
it would provide care for the sick in a timely fashion (since more doctors
would choose to enter the system knowing they can make a living). Billions of
dollars (see link below) could be used for real health needs rather than absorbed
by insurance companies; not to mention the freedom from the monetary headaches
and hassles dealing with insurance.
A final bonus to this plan is
that by default Medicaid and Medicare (and their associated inefficiencies) would
no longer be necessary. All people, rich and poor, young and old, with any type of medical
issue would bring it to their doctor to be appropriately dealt with. If someone wishes to pay for custom or unique medical
situations, such as cosmetic surgery, these services would be available for
clients to be paid out of their own pockets. In fact, if a doctor can survive
without sending the bill to the government for reimbursement, he/she should
have the freedom to operate as they choose.
If you want an efficient
healthcare system at a good price, I believe this is the most effective one
available. However, I did mention some sacrifice. At the turn of the 20th
century, it was assumed that the horse and buggy suppliers would be sacrificed as
the automobile grew in popularity. What’s not mentioned is that many of these
companies didn’t die. Sure, buggy whips were out, but the 1890 style roller
wheel bearings were easily adapted to automobile wheels. So too will the
insurance industry find other opportunities to keep their business afloat.
If we choose not to fear change
for the things we love we will always be successful. We do not have to do what other countries have done, but we should learn from their mistakes - then do what is best for the United
States of America. This is the time to make a great sacrifice for an even
greater healthcare system…one that will allow us to once again be known as the
country with the best most affordable health care in the world.
Healthcare increases
Sample of Insurance company
profits.
High-quality medical graduates leave Canada for
better-paying careers in the U.S http://www.cmaj.ca/content/161/8/1028.full
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