Opus 2011-38 Health Care Suggestions

We know a number of things about health care.  First, we have had a good system.  Even when I was a child and my parents had no health insurance, we got the best of care.  My father had a finger severed except for a piece of skin and they reattached it.  Even though we had no money he received good care.  My mother had a big tumor.  It was removed and she received good care.  My older brother had surgery as a new born, my youngest had surgery on his eyes.  We were taken care of even though we never had any health insurance.  I don’t think that was unusual. 

Second, there are always things that can be improved.  Irresponsible use of the emergency rooms has driven hospitals to close down.  Preexistent condition clauses lock people who have been paying insurance for years to jobs they want to leave.  Middlemen keep sucking off a bigger portion of the pie.  Fraud and corruption drains off the money available.

Third, the health care legislation passed in the last congress had nothing to do with improving the system and will do little but limit options and raise costs.  It will make things worse, not better.  It contained things like the federal government taking over the student loan programs across the country.  What does that have to do with health care?

What kind of things should be dealt with?  Obviously the preexisting condition problem needs to be dealt with.  By that I don’t mean people who wait until they are sick and then want someone else to pay.  I am talking about people who have paid in and then get dropped for shady reasons.  Another problem is people who work for two employers and are forced to pay into two different plans when only needing one.  More flexibility is needed in plans.  Many of us would be willing to work with higher deductibles or plans that don’t include things that will never be needed if we watch how we live.  Union contracts and state laws force us into plans we don’t want.

We need to find a way to save the cost of malpractice insurance.  Obviously if someone pulls a real scorcher they should be held responsible but many times it is a matter of a judgment call.  Hindsight is always better.  Doctors are not gods.  Maybe we should make the testing negotiable.  Every time I see the doctor he has me get a whole battery of tests that are probably not necessary for health but may save lawsuits.

We could open up the responsibilities of nurses and nurse-practitioners.  They could be allowed to see patients and refer when necessary just as a doctor refers to a specialist.

It might help if we began to look at health insurance as “insurance” rather than “assurance.”  I remember hearing this somewhere.  Your car insurance does not pay for tune-ups or new windshield wipers.  It doesn’t pay for oil changes.  It covers major accidents.  Maybe we could apply that to health insurance.  If I want to get a regular check up, I pay.  If I need surgery, insurance pays. 

There are many reasonable and possible changes that can be made.  Let the new congress get serious about the problem not serious about applying their need for the nanny state to rule our lives.

homo unius libri