I am juggling my thoughts around the healthcare reform proposal of Obama administration and the discussions it generated so far.I doubt backing out on a Government run insurance plan was a compromise by Obama administration. There are several programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s health insurance and Emergency Medical care that morphs into a some form of insurance. All these programs were opposed as ‘socialistic’ at the time of their introduction and were never endorsed by the so called ‘conservatives’. May be the new plan could have streamlined it, at the best.
I feel insurance companies are not to blame for this mess. Just like any others, they provide a valuable service and make a profit out of it. There are several players in this market to ensure that competitive prices are available to the insurance shoppers.
In a marketplace, consumers demand value for their money. If that holds true for healthcare, they should check the doctor’s fee, cost of the procedures and services and compare it with the quality before availing the services. This means if someone is paying higher cost for their healthcare, it’s because he/she enjoys a superior service. I don’t think the present system encourage the insured customers to do this evaluation. Cost of many of the procedures I looked at is shockingly high and probably well justifies the cost of insurance.
Billing fraud and excessive billing by healthcare providers also pushed the average cost of insurance high. Physicians are often encouraged to perform multiple procedures allowed under the insurance plan because they want to be protected from any legal suits in the future and also they earn for their employers.
I have some proposals !
- Subsidize the medical education; let’s not pressurize them into making money to pay off the half a million debt. I think its worth spending for the best of our talent which government could tap into later.
- Protect physicians from unnecessary law suits. In other words, if the physicians win the case, the one who sued them pay the cost. This should discourage 90% of the fake litigations. Also this will reduce malpractice insurance cost and combined with earlier point, may reduce the consultation fee they are charging.
- Make people more responsible: Individuals pay for the normal consultations, fitness checks and simple procedures. That way, they will be encouraged to shop for the best value service in their area.Insurance coverage should be a protection for expensive procedures or hospitalization. A range of policy packages should ensure that everybody is covered to the degree of what they are paying for.
- Government should set-up a chain of hospitals that are competitive with private run hospitals in terms of facilities. This will help in setting a standard for the cost of diagnostic procedures and other services. Also the government could administer all their current programs through these outlets.
I am sure almost all of these thoughts are debatable; but I just want to put my version down. Penny for your thoughts !
