What do you, as Americans, need in order to be healthy and make good decisions about your care and the care of your loved ones?
First and foremost, the American people are human and deserve the highest quality personalized and individualized care. They have the right to know cost and quality information in order to make the best decisions for their health. In order to be the healthiest they can be for themselves, and to be part of a productive workforce and to reduce the need for expensive care, we must focus on prevention, wellness, health management and the best interventions to manage complex chronic conditions.
Americans need insurance coverage that is affordable, accessible and appropriate. We must provide incentives for Americans to seek the best care at the best price. Similarly we need to provide incentives for hospitals, physicians, and other providers to give top quality care at the best price. Real reform must include efficient and effective ways to pay for high value outcomes rather than high volume visits and procedures.
What steps do you think need to be taken to create a health and health care environment that saves lives and saves money for individuals, communities, states and the nation as a whole? Since you weren’t invited to the summit, what would you like policy makers and the president to hear? What are solutions that will work?
One thing that might cause people to take better care of themselves is to charge a penalty (higher premium, higher deductible, or higher copay) to people who maintain unhealthy lifestyles (smoking, overeating, underexercising) and provide a benefit to very fit people.
It would be helpful to consumers if medical providers were required to post the range of prices they charge for various common procedures on the internet. Perhaps patients should be able to post comments about their exprience with providers on the internet as well.
Insurance companies should be required to rule on coverage of a particular procedure in advance so that the consumer will know where he stands before incurring an expense.
Posted by: David Wilcox | 02/21/2010 at 04:54 PM
There should be a frame work in our discussion of health care and medical insurance as follows. It does not address Medicare and VA, but much can apply to reduce government costs in Medicare. VA is a special issue in which we must help those who served our country with the best care, still keeping individual responsibility in mind.
Mission Statement
Medical insurance for Americans should be market driven with each person responsible for their medical insurance which would be provided only by private insurance companies whose policies are free of government regulations.
Philosophy for medical care
Medical decisions should be made by the patient, family, attending medical personnel and religious personnel, if appropriate, with respect for life.
The Principles, Problems and Solutions pertain to all medical care except Medicare and VA.
Principles of a new system
• Health care is an individual responsibility. This also pertains to Medicare and VA participants.
• Medical insurance should be an individual responsibility.
• All medical insurance should be provided by private insurers.
Major problems with the current system
• Third party payer of medical insurance. This reduces personal responsibility.
• Government regulations. This increases insurance costs.
• Excessive law suits and claim awards against medical care providers. This increases insurance costs by causing extra tests to practice defensive care and increased cost for liability insurance.
Solutions for the new system
With the philosophy and the three unwavering principles, the following is the solution to implement a market based medical insurance program in which everyone pays their share of medical expenses.
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• Premiums paid by employer provided medical insurance and individual medical insurance should be treated the same from a tax point of view. FairTax would do this. Employer provided medical insurance is a transition to an entire system of individual medical insurance.
• Eliminate regulations.
o Eliminate all federal regulations on the content (required coverages) in medical insurance polices.
o Eliminate Federal regulations that stifle competition in the private medical industry.
o Recommend the states also do the two points listed above.
o Direct states to allow purchase of medical insurance policies from out of state providers.
• Tort reform to minimize the impact of law suits on medical care providers. The reform could be loser pays and/or a limit on liability and pain and suffering.
• Provide assistance (voucher or debit card) for low income uninsured people, who are legal residents of the United States, to pay for a private medical insurance policy.
• Recommend that the medical insurance industry develop a standard policy clearly identifying what is covered and not covered.
Posted by: Eugene Haberl | 02/21/2010 at 07:45 PM