“Wow” is all I can say to how much of a mess we are in today. Obamacare is being “replaced” by something that is not a solution but rather a can being kicked down the road. To figure out where were are we must first look at how we got here.
Way back in the 1940′s during WWII the government determined wage controls were necessary in order to control costs. Well to compete in the job market companies began offering incentives like vacation and health care. Fast forward 80 years we have a ballooning
Corporatocracy which is a odd corporate control of government policy for their ultimate profit. We got to the point where large corporate bureaucracies now control our health care delivery system and not the people. We have to indirectly pay for so much unnecessary tests because of a legal CYA mentality, now if we were in full control of the health care our fingers would be closer to the pulse and we would ask more questions.
In all fairness to the doctors … if I were possibly going to be sued on each and every case I had go the wrong direction, I would most likely do excessive testing as well. But back to the ultimate point and that is how to solve the problem. AND I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER.
First you could dismantle the whole system and bring true free market into play, but that would destroy the current industry built around health care today. Second, provide total government provision. This has it’s obvious problems, but in a industry that has seen it’s profits triple since Obamacare has been in place we can see that 1 bureaucratic nightmare may be better than hundreds of
bureaucratic nightmares.
See the problem is if I want a new car I can shop around and eventually do what I did and just clean up my old car. I could not do that when my heart stopped and I was on the floor turning blue. And this is where health care has a social responsibility factor that we cannot ignore. I am not saying do it for free, but am saying that maybe the billions spent on health care today could be converted into a health care tax and used for all. It would become a profit center for the government and therefore could reduce taxes and maybe deficits if managed properly since hundreds of companies are profiting quite well.
What would that do to care today? I have no idea, but it can be worse that what we have today. My costs are complex and I need to worry about which hospital, which doctor, how the visit is being handled, how the testing is being billed, etc. A visit could cost $45 or $2000 depending on the way the hospital bills the insurance. Sorry, I want it simple … let the docs determine the proper testing and also maybe penalize those who do not wish to follow proper diet habits in a “fat tax” on HFC’s and other junk foods that would go directly into the health care system. This would give people a financial incentive to eat healthy and stay fit, reducing costs for all …. BUT THEN AGAIN ONE COULD SAY THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE HEALTH SYSTEM DOES NOT WANT. THEY NEED CUSTOMERS!!
So, confused? I sure am … and know the current political solutions are NOT going to solve the problem of cost effective health care. And as much as my “free market capitalism” roots say no, in this instance I can see the government potentially providing a better overall product than what we have today.