I know, I’m just asking for a flaming. I fully expect several of my conservative friends to read the title of this post and immediately post some hyperbolic comment. However, for those of you with 5 minutes and some free will, this might be the start of an actual discussion.
Facts
I’d like to start out with some facts to set the stage. I’ve included reputable, indepent data to support these points where possible.
- The United States spends more in total dollars and per capita (per person) on healthcare than any other developed nation. [cite]
- The United States spends more government money per person on healthcare than any country with public healthcare with the exception of Norway and Luxembourg. [cite]
- The United States has fewer physicians per person and less space in hospitals than other OECD countries. [cite]
- The primary cause of personal bankruptcy in the US is medical expenditures. [cite]
- CEO bonuses in the healthcare industry have grown by 116% since 2006 [cite], while 1.4 million Americans lost healthcare in the same period of time. [cite]
- 80% of uninsured families are working class. [cite]
Falsehoods
Next let’s take a look a the complete lies that have spread over the current healthcare debate.
- The proposed plan doesn’t call for death panels. This is completely false and was a claim based on the mis-interpretation of Section 1233 of the House Bill [cite go to pg. 424]. The section encourages patients to create a living will which isn’t the same as a DNR. The AARP agrees [aarp.org]
- Canada’s healthcare isn’t socialized. Canada’s healthcare system is made up of independent hospitals and private practices. [cite]
- The proposed plan will not force the middle class to pay for poor families insurance. Most families below the poverty line already recieve at least partial care from the governement. We already pay for healthcare for the poor.
- Hospitals are not required by law to treat any patient. Hospitals are only required to stabilize patients with injuries or acute medical conditions, but are not in any way required to treat any illness or disease.
Get to the Damned Point Ian
Based on the facts and data, it’s clear that we have a healthcare problem in the US. While there is plenty of debate to be had about how to fix it, anybody who says that healthcare is fine likely needs to see a doctor. The United States spends more money on healthcare, both as a nation and per person, than any country with public healthcare and we only cover the poor and the old. Contrary to what many have said, the middle class already pays for public healthcare, we just don’t get any (look at the line on your paycheck that says medicare). Here are some solutions that I propose:
- Reduce malpractice suits. Many hospitals and private practices spend up to 60% of their gross revenue on malpractice insurance. Doctors are people and they make mistakes, we need a system that only allows malpractice suits in the case of actual negligance as deemed by a jury of peers, which in this case is other medical professionals.
- Support the free market. Allow people, not employers, to select healthcare plans. Many employers choose a generic plan that works for some, but not others. The plan at my current employer is great for single people, but all of the employees with family coverage hate it.
- Shift federal grant money towards prevention and early detection. The most expensive medical procedures are usually the result of preventable conditions. For example, almost every form of cancer has a 90% or better cure rate in Stage 1, but most grant money goes towards curing late stage cancer rather than detecting early signs. People recieving extreme procedures for curable diseases wastes immense amounts of money.
- Eliminate state specific healthcare plans. State laws prevent competition in the marketplace and allow insurers to fix prices.
- Provide a non-profit or public option. This doesn’t mean that the government pays for healthcare, this means that the government acts as a healthcare insurer that citizens can purchase plans from. This insurance could be cheap enough for working class families to afford and would force private insurance companies to create more competitive plans. Health insurance companies make huge profits, even in the current economy, have a cheaper non-profit competitor would force change.
- Provide more educational grants and scholarships to doctors and nurses. Less student loans would help reduce doctor’s salary requirements. Also, more doctors both reduces demand (and there for cost) and makes it more difficult for poor quality doctors to stay in practice. Finally, millions of dollars are wasted every year as a result of mistakes made by overworked medical professionals.
- Last but not least, please stop spreading bullshit. There are plenty of valid reasons to dislike the current bill being considered, there is no reason to make things up. If political leader says something that sounds insane [cough Death Panels], take a few minutes to do some research before you repeat it.
OK, that’s it. Let the flame war begin.
Hey Ian, long time no see. So I will start with this “I am in no way or form an expert on healthcare reform and until recently never gave it much thought” I myself rarely see my doctors unless something is wrong. So… I agree with most of what you had to say except one part.
Hospitals ARE required by law to treat illnesses and injuries regardless of severity. But the hospital system was never designed to be a long term treatment center. This is what PCP or (Primare Care Physicians) are for. To break it down simply, If you show up in the Emergency Room because you are having an asthma attack you are treated. Does that make the ER dock your PCP? of course not. You are instructed to see one at the end of your visit. You are usually prescribed medication to assist. I would call that treatment, wouldnt you?
And if you have another attack you can go back to the ER and they have to legally see you. Again, treatment.
Is it a perminant solution? Of course not. However your use of the word treatment was a little confusing. They are legally bound to see you but are not long term solutions. Never designed to be that.
Again, I may be wrong and will be the first to apologize if I am but I know many people in the medical field and I do believe that what I stated above is true. Correct me if I am wrong.
Details on point #2. Here’s a plan I would propose that serves employers, employees and insurers.
Step 1. The employer negotiates a discount rate based on the number of people they insure (Say 10%).
Step 2. The employer chooses a fixed dollar amount to contribute for single and family plans.
Step 3. The employee can choose any plan offered by the insurer. The employee subtracts the discount and employer contribution and responsible for the remainder.
This allows the employee to choose an appropriate plan (HMO, PPO, HSA) without raising costs for the employer. It’s also reasonable to assume that a few employees will want better coverage, allowing the insurer to make more money than they would providing a base plan to everybody. As far as I can tell, it’s a win-win-win kind of scenario.
See the problem with government providing a public option is problem. Let’s take Medicare for example. The government because of its shortfall in money only pays hospitals and doctors so many cents on a dollar. How do you think these hospitals and doctors make up the difference? You! You’re paying more for healthcare because of programs like Medicare. So how can an insurance company compete with someone who just doesn’t play be the same rules?
Some of your other ideas are good. I just don’t trust our government. Republican or Democrat to do the right thing with our money. Fix Medicare, Soc Sec and the Post office then people might be interested in listening. But right now if you trust a government that couldn’t even run a simple cash for clunkers program with 1/6 of the economy your making a fools bet.
@Michael Longver:
As far as medicare goes, it’s a bit of a 2 way street. The average American does shoulder more than their fair share of medicare costs, but in many ways medicare suffers from the same problems that face private insurers, mostly malpractice. One thing we can likley both appreciate is that about 300 pages of the current bill focus on increasing the efficiency of medicare.
I agree with you on your second point, and so does most of the US. If memory serves me, recent polls show that only 24% of Americans feel that the government is doing well. That means both liberals and conservatives can agree that our politicians are useless. With a few exceptions, the Bush Administration didn’t accomplish much for long-term improvement. Even now, the Executive and Legislative branches are Democrat controlled and the Judicial branch is pretty evenly split, and change is stagnant.
Politicians care more about making their opponents look bad and winning elections than serving their constituents.