Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Insurance Industry Takeover
We are apparently going to hand the keys to our medical care to the sole gatekeeper, the Insurance Industry. Shouldn't it be the medical community that runs healthcare? Instead we are putting the for-profit insurers as the only way to access medical care for our bodies. They restrict healthcare providers in what they can do, and dictate to them how to do their jobs. We are not cars that might get into an accident. We are human beings who need the help of doctors and nurses to maintain our health, and sometimes to save our very lives. Does this Insurance Industry takeover of the Healthcare system bother anyone else??!!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Societal Changes and Government Intervention
The following post is a response to a comment on an earlier post:
Our society is radically different than it was in the 18th century. Everyone was independent then. There was far less of a need for govt regulation when the Constitution was written. We are now so dependent on others as a society. You can't just walk to where you need to go, you need a vehicle, which needs gas and maintenance, and a system of roads and highways (provided by the govt). Much different from a buggy you made and maintained by yourself, powered by your horse you kept in the pasture. Our society is so complex now. We can't even feed ourselves anymore w/o transportation, grocery store chains, credit/debit cards, and interstate shipping. We aren't able to be as self-reliant as we were in the days of our Founding Fathers. How can we expect to be independent in seeking medical care?
If we want to control the power of the insurance companies, it must be done by governmental control. Congress has already had to legislate minimum length of stay for child birth, when insurance companies were dictating that women and newborns had to be discharged within a few hours of birth. This was dangerous medically (not the doctor's decision), and ethically. Congress passed a law mandating a minimum 24 hr hospital stay after child birth. Congress has also had to intervene to mitigate the ability for people with previous or current health issues to obtain insurance (the gatekeepers of health/medical care), becuase the insurance companies want to deny them access for pre-existing conditions. The people who are most in need of health/medical care are too much of a risk. Gee...they might actually NEED medical care! That's not cost effective.
As long as we continue to allow medical care to be subject to the free market system, the insurance industry will have to be reigned in by governmental regulation and legislation. The Founding Fathers could not have forseen that our medical care would be so advanced, yet filtered through profit-minded insurance companies. The power of the insurance industry rivals that of the government, yet is ruled by those seeking profit, certainly not by the will of the people. In the case of healthcare, governmental intervention is a necessity in order to protect the well-being (or even the existence) of its citizens.
It is simply wrong for anyone to make decisions on caring for their body based on financial considerations. Yet millions have gone bankrupt from unanticipated (sometimes unforseeable) medical expenses. If you are severely injured in an accident, or are faced with an unexpected costly medical condition (such as cancer), you will suddenly find yourself in debt for thousands, or even tens or hundreds of thousands, of dollars. Your access to basic medical care should not be subject to the free market. Medical care is not a commodity.
Our society is radically different than it was in the 18th century. Everyone was independent then. There was far less of a need for govt regulation when the Constitution was written. We are now so dependent on others as a society. You can't just walk to where you need to go, you need a vehicle, which needs gas and maintenance, and a system of roads and highways (provided by the govt). Much different from a buggy you made and maintained by yourself, powered by your horse you kept in the pasture. Our society is so complex now. We can't even feed ourselves anymore w/o transportation, grocery store chains, credit/debit cards, and interstate shipping. We aren't able to be as self-reliant as we were in the days of our Founding Fathers. How can we expect to be independent in seeking medical care?
If we want to control the power of the insurance companies, it must be done by governmental control. Congress has already had to legislate minimum length of stay for child birth, when insurance companies were dictating that women and newborns had to be discharged within a few hours of birth. This was dangerous medically (not the doctor's decision), and ethically. Congress passed a law mandating a minimum 24 hr hospital stay after child birth. Congress has also had to intervene to mitigate the ability for people with previous or current health issues to obtain insurance (the gatekeepers of health/medical care), becuase the insurance companies want to deny them access for pre-existing conditions. The people who are most in need of health/medical care are too much of a risk. Gee...they might actually NEED medical care! That's not cost effective.
As long as we continue to allow medical care to be subject to the free market system, the insurance industry will have to be reigned in by governmental regulation and legislation. The Founding Fathers could not have forseen that our medical care would be so advanced, yet filtered through profit-minded insurance companies. The power of the insurance industry rivals that of the government, yet is ruled by those seeking profit, certainly not by the will of the people. In the case of healthcare, governmental intervention is a necessity in order to protect the well-being (or even the existence) of its citizens.
It is simply wrong for anyone to make decisions on caring for their body based on financial considerations. Yet millions have gone bankrupt from unanticipated (sometimes unforseeable) medical expenses. If you are severely injured in an accident, or are faced with an unexpected costly medical condition (such as cancer), you will suddenly find yourself in debt for thousands, or even tens or hundreds of thousands, of dollars. Your access to basic medical care should not be subject to the free market. Medical care is not a commodity.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Healthcare Vouchers
The best solution I've found for reforming the healthcare system is Healthcare Vouchers. Please see the link for details. Here are my favorite parts of this system, as proposed by Dr. Fuchs (professor emeritus of Health Policy at Stanford Univ) and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel (Bioethics Committee, NIH):
- Covers all U.S. citizens
- Similar to current coverage for Federal employees, including members of Congress
- Individuals choose a health plan to administer their healthcare
- ELIMINATES employer-based insurance, creating a huge economic stimulus
- Administered by a Regional Board of Governors
- Disputes resolved through an arbitration board, instead of lawsuits
- Medicare and Medicaid would eventually be phased out by attrition
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Filtering Healthcare
Why are we filtering our access to healthcare through the insurance industry?!! The government is propping up the already rich Insurance Industry, and now they want to mandate EVERYONE to pay the insurance companies even more money. I say NO WAY!! We will have the choice to either pay into insurance, or pay penalties to the government. Is that not a monopoly, playing with everyone's money?!!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fundamental Flaws
PLEASE HELP ME! I have some very legitimate concerns, and I don’t know where to turn for help. The only solution I am hearing to our healthcare woes is “insurance coverage”. Coverage is NOT care. Insurance is not the answer, it is the PROBLEM‼ The current raging healthcare debate is completely missing some fundamental flaws in our healthcare system:
Based on insurance. Our system for the delivery of medical care is based on a risk-adjusted wager as to whether or not we will need access to healthcare. We will all need healthcare, at some point, with 100% certainty. This care is filtered through the profit-driven insurance companies, who dictate to the doctors how to practice medicine.
Employer-based. Why are businesses burdened with the responsibility to provide healthcare coverage to its employees? Why is this the primary source for health insurance? Businesses need to be removed from the healthcare equation. Talk about an instant economic stimulus, try allowing all businesses to eliminate one of its greatest expenses! Our access to healthcare should NOT be tied to our employment. Losing employment should not equal losing access to healthcare, nor should my employer’s choice of insurance dictate my medical care.
What system? We don’t have an actual healthcare system. Instead it is a hodge-podge of policies dictated by special interests, such as the insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital industries. None of these special interests have the best interest of our health in mind, but are entirely profit-driven. They only care about our health if it also happens to be profitable for them.
Power taken from doctors. Doctors are not allowed to make all the decisions. Insurance companies dictate to the doctors how to practice medicine, by telling them what tests and procedures they will pay for, and what medicines to prescribe. Doctors are the trained professionals, and other profit-based interests need to be removed from their medical decision-making.
I have seen an insurance company send a letter to a 35 year-old man living in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant, telling him that he has reached his maximum lifetime limit, and that his coverage has ended…that’s before he even gets the expensive transplant. I have also seen a woman refuse life-saving surgery because she could not afford the 20% co-pay. I have seen that individuals will pay 3 to 6 times more for surgery. What would cost an un-insured person $18,000 for a routine emergency appendectomy, only cost the insurance company $3,000-6,000. Who is better equipped to pay for this? (Answer: the insurance company, not the person who cannot afford insurance).
There is certainly a place for insurance in healthcare, and a very important one. But it should not be the basis for basic medical care, nor should 47 million people be excluded. There are better ways to fund healthcare reform than “insurance coverage”. The best one I have found is Healthcare Vouchers, as recommended by Drs. Emanual and Fuchs. But I’m sure there are other solutions possible. So why is insurance coverage the ONLY solution being discussed?
There are so many voices clamoring to be heard, I don’t know where to take my concerns. I am hoping that you will be able to help me find a way to have my one little (but knowledgeable) voice heard.
Based on insurance. Our system for the delivery of medical care is based on a risk-adjusted wager as to whether or not we will need access to healthcare. We will all need healthcare, at some point, with 100% certainty. This care is filtered through the profit-driven insurance companies, who dictate to the doctors how to practice medicine.
Employer-based. Why are businesses burdened with the responsibility to provide healthcare coverage to its employees? Why is this the primary source for health insurance? Businesses need to be removed from the healthcare equation. Talk about an instant economic stimulus, try allowing all businesses to eliminate one of its greatest expenses! Our access to healthcare should NOT be tied to our employment. Losing employment should not equal losing access to healthcare, nor should my employer’s choice of insurance dictate my medical care.
What system? We don’t have an actual healthcare system. Instead it is a hodge-podge of policies dictated by special interests, such as the insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital industries. None of these special interests have the best interest of our health in mind, but are entirely profit-driven. They only care about our health if it also happens to be profitable for them.
Power taken from doctors. Doctors are not allowed to make all the decisions. Insurance companies dictate to the doctors how to practice medicine, by telling them what tests and procedures they will pay for, and what medicines to prescribe. Doctors are the trained professionals, and other profit-based interests need to be removed from their medical decision-making.
I have seen an insurance company send a letter to a 35 year-old man living in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant, telling him that he has reached his maximum lifetime limit, and that his coverage has ended…that’s before he even gets the expensive transplant. I have also seen a woman refuse life-saving surgery because she could not afford the 20% co-pay. I have seen that individuals will pay 3 to 6 times more for surgery. What would cost an un-insured person $18,000 for a routine emergency appendectomy, only cost the insurance company $3,000-6,000. Who is better equipped to pay for this? (Answer: the insurance company, not the person who cannot afford insurance).
There is certainly a place for insurance in healthcare, and a very important one. But it should not be the basis for basic medical care, nor should 47 million people be excluded. There are better ways to fund healthcare reform than “insurance coverage”. The best one I have found is Healthcare Vouchers, as recommended by Drs. Emanual and Fuchs. But I’m sure there are other solutions possible. So why is insurance coverage the ONLY solution being discussed?
There are so many voices clamoring to be heard, I don’t know where to take my concerns. I am hoping that you will be able to help me find a way to have my one little (but knowledgeable) voice heard.
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