It's been quite a ride for the President the past week. He was on the verge of ramming through a hugely expensive bill that most Americans could only imagine what was in there. Then, all of the sudden, Scott Brown gets elected and the entire landscape changes. Before I start on this, let me make this perfectly clear. I'm not a fan of our current President nor am I a fan of our current legislatures. To me, all of them must go and we, as Americans need to put people in office that actually listen to the public a little more and worry about their jobs a little less. Obviously since many Democrats are changing their tune this week, it just shows how little they care about what they stand for and how much they really just want to keep their jobs. It's amazing what one election can do. I'm proud of MA residents voicing their opinion so strongly on Tuesday. However, the race was still close. 52%-47% tells me that our country is heavily divided on the way our government is going. Of course a 5% victory by Republicans in MA is a landslide!
Ok, so what to do with health care. Whether you are on the left, center or right in this country, I believe we all agree that we need some health care reforms. However, based on the polls we all agree, well most of us, that the proposed plan (whatever it really is) isn't the right plan. What we need is both sides of our government to stop thinking about their parties and start thinking about us, their boss. To me it's simple. Let's fix some of the problems and then go from there. There is no need to overhaul a system where 85% of Americans are fairly happy. Why would we change an entire system for only 15% of Americans. Do they deserve great health care? Of course they do, this is The United States of America.
Here is my plan:
1. First and foremost, based on most of the doctors that I have talked to, we need tort reform. Most of the costs in our medical industry is based on over testing of patients. The reason is simple. The doctors are forced to give every test under the sun, not to help the patient, but to protect themselves from law suits. The doctors that I have talked to have told me that they are spending over $80,000 a year on liability insurance. That's crazy!
Of course you can't just say let's have tort reform, you actually have to do something. My suggestion is simple. If a lawyer brings a lawsuit about anyone, doctor, car accident victim, or someone who slipped in my front yard, they need to be prepared to lose a lot of money if it is a frivolous suit. I propose that if the case, which costs us a fortune in court costs and more, is lost, the lawyer bringing the suit should pay a fine of no less than $25,000 and all of the defendants court, and lawyer costs. This would instantly have tort lawyers thinking about the cases they take. Unfortunately what was set up to protect people has turned into a system to hit the lawsuit lottery. This change would have an immediate financial affect on health care system. I don't know enough about the numbers to give dollar figures, but it does make sense that if the lawsuits are controlled, and the lawyers are responsible for their actions, the costs will go down tremendously.
2. Insurance across state lines - I have to admit I had no idea this was actually going on. Why wouldn't we allow insurance companies to compete across state lines? This is another very simple fix that would be both lucrative to the right insurance company and a huge savings for the American people. Currently our system does not allow insurances companies to compete across state lines. I'm not sure who and how these decisions are made, but I know it's broken. Some states have as little as two or three options for health insurance. What would the affect be on our costs if you had 100 choices? Let capitalism do what it's meant to do and it would bring our costs down dramatically on health care. Look what's happened with cell phones. My first cell phone cost me $1,400 and $1 a minute. Now my cell phone cost me $200 and I pay $99 for unlimited calling. The affect on health care would be similar.
3. End of life services - This is a touchy area for me as both my parents died in the hospital after two week stays. I don't remember the cost of those two weeks, and with my dads heart transplant, there was no way he could have been at home when he died. I recently talked with a nurse administrator for a hospital and we discussed health care. She told me that most people spend 2 weeks to a month in the hospital when they are dying. The costs are astronomical at around $20k per day. I thought that number was high, but even it if was $3,000 per day, the number is huge. What I'm going to say right now is not going to be comfortable to some people, but I do believe it's the right thing. I believe that if we gave people who are terminal the right to die in dignity, we would not only save a tremendous amount of money, we would save a tremendous amount of pain and suffering. I remember like it was yesterday watching my mother die of lung cancer at 59 years old. It was a horrible way to go and I don't wish this on anyone. My mother did ok up until the last week or so. At that point she was in pain and extremely sedated so she could die pain free. Based on her moaning, I don't believe it was pain free and I know it wasn't pain free for our family. If someone is terminal and of a sane mind, why wouldn't we allow them to end their lives with a simple injection. We put dogs and horses down so they don't suffer, yet we allow our family members to suffer terribly. In the end, my mother didn't die of her cancer, she died of a morphine overdoes. According to nurses I have talked to about this, this is normal. They do eventually put us down by overdosing us with morphine. Why wait for the pain and suffering to reach that point. I can't imagine that anyone reading this wants to spend their last days, usually alone, in a hospital room dying. I know I would much rather take a pill or injection with my family by my side and say good bye as I fall off to sleep.
From a financial affect on our health care system, it's obvious. This would save billions of dollars each year.
4. Fraud - This is rampant in our medical profession right now. There are doctors padding bills, hospitals double billing (Ive had this happen a few times), medical device companies that don't even exist and so much more. The President was right, we could save $500 million a year or in waste if they would just crack down on the current problem of fraud. Why wouldn't these companies who are collecting from medicaid or medicare be checked out to see if they are real? Why wouldn't there be a random check of bills verse procedures, audits, to ensure that doctors are not padding bills with extra services that did not happen. I have seen this personally on a few occasions. I'm just one person, how many times and how much money is wasted each year that insurance companies, medicaid and medicare have to pay for these false claims. Tougher laws and random audits would have a huge affect on this. Millions? Billions? Who knows.
5. Government subsidies - Once we have been able to create the above changes, we will then be able to come up with a program either with vouchers and or tax credits to help our uninsured American citizens. Yes, I said citizens. We have enough trouble paying for ourselves right now, when illegal immigrants want to come into our country the way my grandparents came and I'm sure your relatives did too, then they will get the benefits offered by our country.
Will the above solve all our problems? No, but it's a start without reforming an 1/6 of our economy. This is just one realtors idea on how to fix things. You would think if I can come up with logical solutions, our brilliant minds in Washington could possible work together to fix a problem. In 2010, November, I recommend that we vote all the current law makers out of office and start over with fresh representation.
4. Government Voucher program - Once we have implemented the above changes, which will dramatically affect the cost of health care and save billions
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