First is that health insurance companies are huge. Huge enough that they could probably create their own army and attack the government in a coup.
Second - we don't want the government taking over and slowing the healthcare industry down. It's slow enough.
Third - Prevention of diseases has to be a big part of this.
Fourth - Drug and health related research have to dealt with as well.
Fifth - The Doctors and Healthcare providers will be tough...If not tougher the the insurance companies.
Sixth - Drug Companies....Something has to be done.
I'm going to explain this quickly. It's a rather boring subject on the whole, so explaining it quickly will be the best for all of us.
First health insurance can be dealt with this way. We are a market economy, so why not let this work in our favor and utilize
what is already set up.
People that are covered by a health insurance through work keep that insurance
People that are not insured at all. Whether they are jobless, homeless or just an independent business owner. You get the insurance companies
together and you say we are going to offer this whole group of people to be covered together. The people in this pool are divied up without knowledge
of class. Each person in that pool is examined and given a health risk from 1 to 5. 1 being Best health and 5 being Dire! Each of the insurance companies
has to take the same number from each number. That way it is even.
After that everyone will have healthcare. The divied up people premiums are payed by the government. That is the costly part at first.
Second we don't want the government taking over, but we also don't want insurance companies making all these exceptions, referrals and such.
So the government says that each insurance company......By the way in this system, there will be no independent insurance companies that work
outside the system. They are either in or out. Any, the government sets a set of guidelines that every insurance company must follow. So that
every insurance company has the same strict guidelines to adhere to. There will not be choice. If they are to stay in business they my comply.
It will seem tough for them, but they will stay cause there is a lot of money involved.
Third - We set up and require that people to manage their health. In particular the prevention of diseases is going to be paramount. People that
continue to smoke will not only have to pay more for cigarettes, but also have to pay something on their insurance. Anything that raises their risk,
they must contribute what ever that access is. And there is no in or out for people either. They are in the pool. If they continue to drink and drug
and need assistance from addiction specialist and hospitals, their rates will go up.
So, you say...How are the poor and the homeless going to pay. Well there will be none. An mission to be get every soul off the street. If they are
jobless they will give jobs and places to live. Some of the jobs will be building these new places for people to live. People that are mentally challenged
or have mental disorders will be set put in appropriate institutions.
Fourth - Also as part of this prevention effort, drug and health research will help offer grants to fund reseach and development for drugs. Incentives would
be based on the type of drug and the risk its development would help. This would help with the drug companies. Many drug companies complain that
drug prices are so high, because of the cost research and development. Not really true, because Canadian drug prices are far lower. It has more to do
with the power we give drug companies in the United states.
Fifth - Doctors and Healthcare providers would have to adhere to the same things the insurance companies would have to do. They have to accept insurance
from everycarrier and at set prices. Procedures would have set codes and prices across the board. No acceptions.
Sixth - Drug companies would have to come up with a cost analysis of every drug they produce to justify the price they charge. Whatever they put in they get
out with a 20% profit. Eventually this would be off set by the fact that the government would fund all research and development throught the corporations so
that eventually the prices would fall.
Finally I must say the one of the most important elements to this is that everyone is accountable. Including the patient.
I know there are probably huge gaping holes...I also don't have a staff of accountants to run numbers, but the cost the government puts into the system,
will eventually be returned.
I also think the risk assessment idea could be used to feed the starving people on our shores. Each person gets assigned a health risk number and
a corresponding food number that tracks the degree to which you stand. 1 being overweight and need of nutritional guidance to 5 malnurished. The hunger
number would assessed by each doctor and it be considered when re-evaluating your risk number.
Just some ideas....
JB had some great thoughts about the holes in my plan:
Each person in that pool is examined and
> given a health risk
> from 1 to 5. 1 being Best health and 5 being Dire!
> Each of the
> insurance companies
> has to take the same number from each number. That way it is even.
> After that everyone will have healthcare. The divied up people
> premiums are payed by the government. That is the costly part at
> first.
*** They are going to charge out outrageous amount to the government to take on the "Dire! 5" people. ***
>
> Second we don't want the government taking over, but we also don't
> want insurance companies making all these exceptions, referrals and
> such.
> So the government says that each insurance company......By the way in
> this system, there will be no independent insurance companies that
> work outside the system. They are either in or out.
> Any, the government
> sets a set of guidelines that every insurance company must follow. So
> that every insurance company has the same strict guidelines to adhere
> to.
> There will not be choice. If they are to stay in business they my
> comply.
> It will seem tough for them, but they will stay cause there is a lot
> of money involved.
>
> Third - We set up and require that people to manage their health. In
> particular the prevention of diseases is going to be paramount.
> People that continue to smoke will not only have to pay more for
> cigarettes, but also have to pay something on their insurance.
**So what about poor people who can't afford insurance in the first place? The government now has to pay their extra premium for smoking?***
> Anything that raises
> their risk,
> they must contribute what ever that access is. And there is no in or
> out for people either. They are in the pool. If they continue to
> drink and drug and need assistance from addiction specialist and
> hospitals, their rates will go up.
***Will this cause more people NOT to seek help due to their rates going up? Also, typically these are people who can't afford insurance in the first place, (i.e. they are drunk and have no job) so again does the govenment take over their extra premium costs?
And where do you draw the line on what constitutes something that your rates could get raised for?***
> So, you say...How are the poor and the homeless going to pay. Well
> there will be none. An mission to be get every soul off the street.
*** That would be nice but impractical. ***
If
> they are
> jobless they will give jobs and places to live.
*** They have a system like this in Jacksonville.
Some people just refuse to work. Some people refuse the free housing. In Jax, if you are homeless they give you a job, clothes, a place to live and food.
Yet there are still TONS of homeless people. They are given everything they need to get back on their feet and yet many of them never do. Many of them just make bad life choices and cannot change.***
> Some of the jobs will
> be building these new places for people to live.
> People that are
> mentally challenged
> or have mental disorders will be set put in appropriate institutions.
***WHo is paying for these institutions? What about the lazy that just don't want to work? Nothing's wrong with them, they just have addictions that prevents them from keeping a job. How are they dealt
with?***
>
> Fourth - Also as part of this prevention effort, drug and health
> research will help offer grants to fund reseach and development for
> drugs. Incentives would be based on the type of drug and the risk its
> development would help.
> This would help with the drug companies. Many drug companies complain
> that drug prices are so high, because of the cost research and
> development.
> Not really true, because Canadian drug prices are far lower. It has
> more to do with the power we give drug companies in the United states.
***There is lots of funding for research on drugs currently and they are incredibly expensive to develop. I'm not sure how much profit drug companies make, but they take a lot of risks. Drugs take decades to develop, scientist are expensive, the machines they use are expensive, and the drug companies liability is huge in a lawsuit if their drugs kill people. It takes a lot of money to make drugs! I can't comment on Canada b/c I do not know how much drugs are or why they are so cheap. If drug companies are pocketing excessive tons of money then that is wrong, but they certainly spend a TON of it producing drugs. Just think, if there was no financial incentive, many of these companies would not exist, drugs would not be made, and people would still be dying or in pain. I hear the pharma industry is having to make a lot of cuts recently and it is now harder to get a job there. That means less research gets done. Less drugs are developed. Less cures are
found.***
>
> Fifth - Doctors and Healthcare providers would have to adhere to the
> same things the insurance companies would have to do. They have to
> accept insurance from everycarrier and at set prices. Procedures
> would have set codes and prices across the board. No acceptions.
*** You want to make sure doctors make good money too.
You don't want anyone doing that job.***
>
> Sixth - Drug companies would have to come up with a cost analysis of
> every drug they produce to justify the price they charge. Whatever
> they put in they get out with a 20% profit.
***What about the other 100,000 compounds they put a ton of money into researching that never were marketable? What is their profit on drugs now? (When you take into account ALL their expenses(lawsuits, scientists, lawyers, equipment, marketing)? ***
2 comments:
Working in the healthcare industry gives us an inside perspective. The drug companies as well as the care providing companies are only concerned with profit now, to a fault. When we started 30 years ago you could treat a patient based on what their needs were, now it's about billable units first foremost and always. Being patients gives all of us insider's views. I dare you to go to a Dr. now any Dr. anytime and not have a drug rep call on him/her while you are there. Even our Osteopath who is trained to think in alternatives now goes immediately to drugs. He wanted to start me on BP meds because mine was high in his office the other day. I've been exercising more regularly and checking it here at home and it's well below what it was in his office. He's James age and is on the stuff already himself.
Tell me about it. I know what you mean.
Cindy, when she was working for Geisinger would have lunch & a presentation almost everyday, provided by the drug companies.
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