Causes of High Healthcare Costs:
1. Malpractice Lawsuits--- insurance costs go way up, forcing Hospitals to force Doctors to charge more.
2. HMO's --- they set a fee that is one part true cost of care, one part risk premium, one part profit (they are a business afterall) -- being unregulated, no one can see in this box.
3. Medical School -- its expensive in both time and money... some doctors work 15 years before they pay off their 100K+ school loans.
4. High Demand Low Supply --- the # of people needing medical help (including the uninsured) is greater than the available providers of healthcare (basic economics: low supply, high demand = high price)
Solution:
1. Create a system to make medical education "free" to the student. If you are smart enough to get into Medical School (and maintain excellent grades) the government should provide the option to pay for your medical school. The option is either a 0% interest loan + grants or service in the "government medical service". Hold the same for all medical fields: nursing, lab technology, physical therapy, etc.
2. Establish the Government Medical Service -- build a network of hospitals and community medical centers nationwide and staff them with private and "public" doctors. The building of the hospitals and med centers will create significant amounts of shorterm (construction) and long term jobs. Long term jobs will be distributed between all levels of skilled labor (doctors, nurces, technicians, administrators, business, security, janitorial..etc.)
3. Public Doctors/ Nurses etc. get paid along the GS track in-line with what First Year residents get paid. After 3-4 years of service they get a bump in pay or can elect to go "private". Private Staff get a reduction in income tax, or pay no tax.
4. Taxpayers, citizens, resident aliens, and legal visitors can use th Government Medical Service - for free the only catch is that you waive your right to sue. You can't sue the government. Negligence and malpractice however would still carry their criminal charges and the removal of medical licenses.
5. People still have the option for private insurance and private doctors -- but due to the public system, private cost must inevitably fall.
6. Provide a $ for $ tax credit without cap on all out of pocket medical costs: co-pays, premiums, drugs, deductibles, etc.
7. Rather than basing risk on 'employee pools' require HMO's and PPO's to qualify all insured based on a "national pool" where the risk is spread through the entire population rather than a smaller pool like employees.
8. Use the new network to support advanced studies and research into therapies and medicine.
Out comes:
1. Basic medical services: colds, broken bones, child birth, stitches, cancer and AIDS treatment etc can be handled by the "system"
2. Advanced surgical procedures will also be offered by the system but due to the potential for a "waiting" period, people with access to private care will inevitably do so.
3. Specialized services will also be offered both in the private and government sectors.
4. All people have access to healthcare, health care costs fall, new jobs are created, more people will seek higher education for the guarantee of a job.
