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Expert Take: How Can We Fix Health Care?
Rising health-care costs are a concern for everyone -- especially small businesses. Entrepreneurs weigh in on how to fix a broken system.
Posted 7/ 25 10 at 5:00 PM | Money, Management, Leadership, Starting a Business, Taxes & Accounting, Health, Expert Take
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Comments (Page 1 of 3)
COMPETITION would do wonders, provide a liability Cap to small providers
to spur small clinics.....................force clear price charts and
break the insurance/medical partnership. Provide service outside the
existing Monopoly...........just do it ! Obama and GOP sell out to the
Monopoly every time ! Provide an incentive to go to a small clinic.
Lawyers suing are not the problem. If there is gross negligence then they sould be sued. How about the tax payer having to pay for the people who become disabled from bad doctors and bad perscription drugs? Maybe the governement should sue those who are negligent and regulate them more so people dont get hurt.
Eliminate liability to one million dollars, Lawyers are the ONLY cause of all of these problems. They are the parasites that feed on all of the cash in the system. This profession had so much respect 50 years ago, now the are the "butt" of all jokes. I remember paying 100$ per month for medical insurance 36 years ago...then the lawsuits started- insurance rose- hospitals had to keep up with costs for this- doctors as well...
ask yourself...what what the catalyst--- ?? parasites !!!!!!!!!! Why not eliminate lawyers altogether- I can assure you that the world would still turn and the sun would still rise every morning.
Hmm... Great Britian is spending about 7% GNP for their healthcare and still managed to save Steven Hawkings. The US is spending about 14% & it was projected to go to 28% by 2025. And the US is ranked 28th in health care, just behind Costa Rica. Maybe you should ask a few British citizens what they think about their health care vs USA health care?
It takes an expert to ask the question? Great experts. I know I wouldn't turn it over to an authority which has shown zero ability to cut its own irresponsible spending and is trillions of dollars in debt. That seems really stupid, how is that working out in England?
In order for the United States to reduce it health cost bill we have to begin taking better "health" of ourselves and our children. A variety of evidence based reports reveal that nearly 75% of health care cost are directly related to our poor lifesyle choices. We eat and drink to much, don't exercise enough, don't get enough sleep and are to stressed out. Additionally the overweight and obesity rates of our children are rapidly increasing. Until each of us accepts "personal responsibility" for our personal health we will not be able to reduce our health care cost.
Fortunately HR 3590 (health care reform) allocates $200 million in federal grants beginning in 2011 to help employers with fewer than 100 employees set up small business wellness programs for their employees. Between healthy employees and healthy schools we can improve the health and well being of all. Steve Dodder, Co-founder of the Colorado Society for Wellness & Prevention www.coloradowellness.org
Tort reform is very much needed, however it is not the only answer.
Reform that opens real competition is the answer. Politically this will be very difficult. Insurance and healthcare association lobbyist have spent mega millions to head off real reform. Your local congress person has benefited from them in one way or the other.
For an example, insurance industries do not have to abide by the same antitrust and price fixing laws as any other business. The same goes for rural areas where there is only one or two network providers.
Relaxing federal and AMA regulations so good primary care is very affordable. Why not allow pharmacist to be trained as Drs. Assistants so Rxs can be obtained with one office call. (Big pharma and the AMA might not like this)
State laws will have to be modified and aligned so coverage can be purchased across state lines. Right now the insurance industries lobbyist owns most of the states regulatory agencies. Example: Many states have restrictions on development of healthcare facilities without proving the “Need”. Price competition is not an allowable factor. If you wanted to build another hospital in St. Louis or KC,MO because you thought you could do a better job and charge less, you would not be permitted to do so.
There will always be the need for a government funded or operated safety nets. Paying for it with Medicare payroll taxes is a farce. All of that should be eliminated and a national sales tax implemented, so everyone pays. Right now if you are 58 and have even minor issues, you are screwed. You retire early or are downsized and you will find yourself without coverage very quickly.
Just my thoughts to go along with the good ideas already posted.
Obama, McCaskill are you listening?
Advanced Practice Nurses are one aspect to providing quality and access to healthcare. The current system (organized medicine) has placed barrier after barrier in the path of these professionals only to be shown that time after time, the Nurse Pratitioner provides excellent care at a lesser cost to the consumer. It is time to let this group do their thing and help shore up the healthcare system in the US... Dr. B - Tennessee
Three things.
First, REQUIRE ALL medical providers to POST THEIR RATES in large type in receiving areas. All rates
Second, REQUIRE ALL medical providers to charge their LOWEST rates to cash equivalent payors.
Note neither of the above require increases in taxes, but puts medical providers back into the area of competitive pricing.
Third, Limit payments for pain and suffering (punitive damages limits) to $300,000 per medical malpractice incident. Note, I didn't say, to limit future medical expenses from claims, nor extraordinary costs such as lost wages.
Again, this discourages runaway juries, and blood thirst attorneys.
If we need to punish bad doctors, take away their license to practice. Don't punish all medical providers by giving away millions to one claimant for the bad acts of one bad provider.
US health care is NOT broken. Only some minor adjustments are needed. But leftwingers want control so capitalism can be destroyed. Leftwing destruction increases gov, destroys health care. Cancer survival 5 yrs post diagnosis in US ia 65% & in England is 46%; Percent diabetes patients treated 6 mo post diagnosis 93% in US while only 15% in England. Could list more data. Note new head medicare & medicade wants to redistribute medical care and is in love with the British system. The new head Dr Berwick was appointed without senate approval to provide checks and balances dating from country founders day the very day after senate broke for vacation. Next year small businesses have to give and get 1099s as supervised by IRS for all transactions over $600 for medicare income improvement via increased tax collections. More and more and more and more government. How will Obama get Sharia law in - lets wait and see. His wife and daughters might not like it, but 92% of the tax payers do not like the new Obama care.
This is the problem with having educational elitists running the country.
They govern from history and facts in books and not from personal experience. Now the English system is moving AWAY from a centralized administration and bringing it back to the local level and letting the doctors administer it. They found that there is too much waste and layers of beaurocracy. Who would have thought that the government can't do ANYTHING efficiently. Go figure ;-O
I'm suprised you all have'nt recieved your notification about your decreasing premiums from your insurance companies. Obama said it would happen!!!! Yea, right.
Get rid of Obama- first step to affordable heath care for white people
We are looking in all the wrong places. Let me give a few examples. I am retired and have Medicare with a PPO supplement. I get small(less than half a pencil eraser) basal cell cancer spots on my head. Here is what happens. First the spot gets a biopsy. For 10 minutes work the doctor charges $350 and the lab charges $150. Medicare pays $200 and $100. If positive you go back for a MOHS procedure, this involves taking small pieces, examining them, and if all is not removed the doctor repeats it until the cancer is removed. this is is done on an afternoon in the doctors office with about 8-10 patients cycling thru the process. Every time the doctor cuts and examines they bill $1000. My last spot took 3 passes. Doctor billed $ 3000, Medicare plus supplement paid $2000. So one little spot's total cost was $2500. That was for about 30 minutes of doctor, nures, and lab tech. Ten patients X $2000-2500 equals $20,000-25,000 for 2-3 hrs. of their time. Not bad! I went to the ER for a deep cut. Four stitches. ER and PA that did the sewing billed $3000. They accepted $500. Still not bad! My wife had severe rectal bleeding, turn out to be internal hemorhoids. The bill for an ER visit, 1 day in the hospital, and a rectal exam was $11,000. Insurance paid $6000. Really not bad! It is no wonder that Medicare is broke and private insurance cost are rising. Our medical system is not consumer driven, people do not care what is billed, out of sight and mind since insurance pays. It's free you know! Same mentality when the government pays, it's free right! The medical community deserves to be paid for their services, but this is excessive. Patient apathy and no checks and balances has led to a broken system.
WELL, I KNOW ONE WAY? MORE FOCUSING ON MEDICARE FRAUD AND TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT ..
THESE DR.'S/HOSPITALS JUSTIFY OVER CHARGING PEOPLE WITH MEDICARE SINCE THEY CAN TAKE THE EXTRA $ TO TREAT THE UNINSURED AND POOR..AND THE ILLEGALS...
Eventhough they may Take medicare, they still charge more than it will pay and you have to pay the Difference.. and they Don't Tell you that before you come in..
It really irks me comming in and seeing 5 other Immigrants, Mexicans and I know they don't have Insurance and many are Illegals, all going ahead of us..and We have to pay More, to pay for them..
They say some $14 Billion in taxpayers $ was paid out to Treat the illegals? That's just plain wrong..
And when you ask ahead of time what the costs are? They give you a Big Run Around.
Try going in and /or calling and telling them you have No insurance and need to know what the price will be?
And If we treat anyone Uninsured or Illegal and Don't Do enough for them or Something goes wrong? They can Sue! Go figure that one out.
Ditto Catskinner... Ditto my fellow Senior
What a Scam they have going
and don't you know? That Extra $ they get , helps take care of the Uninsured, the Poor and The Illegals!
Maybe once we let a few hundred thousand of them die in the streets, they will get the message..
Just reward for winning lawsuit, and while we are at it if we can control the amount a CEO gets, then why not an attorney??? The amount of a suit can be determined using facts, ages, reasonably expected wages and common sense...Stop this notion that because a business is a business it can afford and is obligated to provide healthcare....You must receive in wages and benefits what YOU are worth to your company,,, not what you THINK you deserve...Those of you with the anti business mentality,,, get some facts....Most of your deserving employees would throw their company under the bus for much less than you think... It is done every day... You think business HAS to be loyal and kind to all employees, good bad and inbetween,,, but at the same time job jumping is promoted.....Be responsible for a payroll,,,, THEN TALK TO ME...
First off, If you check out who gets the bulk of the money for Medical services you will realize that big business owns the Hospitals. The surgeon for a heart problem thats $50,000.00 only gets about $6,000.00. If the taxpayors of each county owned the Hospitals and staff it with the best equipment and Nurses the Doctors could still come and do the surgery as they do now and I would bet my shirt that a kleenex wouldn't cost $25.00 as it does now. The total bill would be reasonable. Send this to Obama!
Simple fix. Take away the insurance companies anti trust exemption. They are not bound by the Sherman Act. By not being bound by the Sherman Act, they do not have to compete and openly can share (by publishing with the state's insurance commissions in every state in the U.S.) their rates, thus allowing each other to "fix" their pricing to whatever they so choose. If the insurance commissions don't approve their rates, they simple drop the plan, or pull out of the state completely. Our U.S. Congressional leaders (House & Senate) need to get their hands out of the pockets of the insurance lobbyist's pockets or the PAC committee's pockets and step up to the plate and play "fair" with the American public. If the anti-trust exemption were dropped tomorrow, the rate of all health insurance would drop by at least 1/2 the following day.
Stop the co=pays and charge a quarter or dollar more on premiums. Half the problem solved.
Remove the profit. It's greed that got us to this point. The almighty dollar. Make Health Care Government run like the Military.