Thoughts on February 25 Health Care Summit
On February 25th, our country will have a great opportunity to improve the way health care is delivered in America. Under the glare of bright lights with cameras rolling in realtime, Washingtoncrats of all stripes will have an opportunity to vastly improve the ways we obtain and pay for health care.
Re-reading my August 20 blog on this subject, http://alangaudynski.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html, has many of the points which could be addressed at the upcoming summit.
I think success could be achieved if they agree to discuss three or four points, and then go to address the others in future sessions of Congress.
In addition to reviewing the 12 points in my plan and others, the Congress would do well to send a bipartisan panel to study the Swiss Health Plan.
Their plan is completely private, with 99 percent of the population covered, with over 240 approved competing plans to choose from, with excellent outcomes, using only 11 percent of that country's gross national product (GNP), compared to our 17-18 percent.
Here is a review of my 12 points:
1. Tort reform. Make lawsuits more realistic. To reduce or stop frivilous lawsuits, make the plaintiffs and their attorneys pay all legal fees and expenses if they lose.
2. Set national, not state standards for health insurance.
3. Open purchasing of health insurance to approved plans in any states.
This would reduce mandated benefits and allow purchasers the power to purchase the type of coverage they want.
4. Re-institute community/age rating. This would put pressure on providers to keep charges lower and improve outcomes.
5. Remove the pre-existing condition provision and include the risk in the community/age rating system.
6. Develop a better triage system in our hospitals so people with no or dimished insurance do not seek primary care from and emergency room,
but from a companion urgent care clinic.
7. Providers could send charges for illegal immigrant care to the State Department which would pay the providers out of the foreign aid given to the immigrants' country of origination. (Controversial, but current system is bankrupting many of our hospitals).
8. Develop a better tax incentive program which encourages 100 percent compliance of the purchase of health insurance.
9. Develop premium lowering incentives for people who really improve their own health.
10. Develop an easily transportable, confidential, electronic medical record sytem.
11. Every adult should have to declare their advanced directives as a condition of coverage, with the option of changing them annually.
12. Take personal responsibility for maintaining and improving your own health.
This is a great opportunity to pu partisanship aside and take three or four baby steps to begin the reform process, rather than blow up what we have and start from scratch.
