What's Wrong With This - Magzland's 5-Point Health Care Plan

Forgive me for not having done the appropriate research, and I'm stating right here up front that I haven't made myself particularly familiar with all the different proposals and ideas regarding health care in the U.S. but I got myself to thinking...as I'm going through of my own, unexpected health care issues...of a plan that seems to make too much sense.  It's not left, it's not right.  Those that subscribe to the reigning parties (and even the not so reigning) will hoot and holler, and cry foul I'm sure at different aspects, but that's what I'm looking for, in a way.  I need to understand what I'm missing.  So please, please DO comment, just keep it civil and reasonable - point out the flaws and provide solutions.  Okay...here goes:

1. Eliminate insurance companies.  Okay, I know that's a huge one.  And maybe I shouldn't lead with that because I can feel some haunches already reared.  But bear with me.  From my understanding, its this particular, ornery piece of the puzzle that's really causing the problem in the first place.  The middle man is unnecessary - especially one taking such a sizeable chunk from everyone.  Have you ever offered to pay cash at a doctor?  Try it. You'll be amazed at the difference.  If you are a generally healthy person you will pay SIGNIFICANTLY less per year to cover even biannual checkups, with labs, that what you pay your insurance provider.  Who are they really helping?  Themselves.

2. Only one mandate needs to be passed, and that is that all U.S. citizens have access to health care, and that all providers must offer some level of opportunity so that basic services are always available.  A national standard of poverty/wealth can be used to gauge qualification, and individual providers can either use a sliding scale, or provide a financial assistance plan, or however they wish to handle it.  Bottom line is, it's controlled by the provider.  But they cannot deny anyone a service.

3. Providers should create managed care service plans.  Once one does it, all will follow to compete.  IT service companies do it.  Veterinarians do it.  Air Conditioning Services do it.  Why not doctors and dentists?  I know it doesn't seem the same, but why not?  Offer a flat annual fee (or a monthly fee - which of course would be a bit more expensive to entice everyone to take the annual route), all preventative services.  We all know what those are - the insurance companies certainly have made us all well versed on that.  Basically, wellness check ups.  And every provider could throw in whatever they feel would make their offer better - certain vaccinations, additional screenings, etc. Totally at their discretion.  As a participant in the managed care plan, you get discounted rates on additional services if other things come up.  These plans can even be tiered to allow for different levels of affordablity. 

4. Providers should create their own "networks".  Hence, if an issue comes up that a specialist is needed, you can choose from their select network, at the same discounted rate because you are a managed care participant.  Or are free to go to whomever you choose, but then you are subject to whatever fees those providers will charge.  Providers should naturally look for the best partners to connect with as that will make their programs most attractive.  Part of the reason there's a lot of crappy providers out there is that they have no incentive to be any better.  People are forced to go to them because their insurance dictates as such, and they know they are getting paid regardless.  Where is the incentive for them to run a better business and provide better service?

5.  All hospitals should be run as non-profit institutions, supported by funding from our government and other private resources that they are responsible for soliciting.  Hospitals, in this picture, should be the option of last resort.  If everyone is able to take care of themselves reasonably, there will be a significantly reduced need for hospitals in the first place.  I wonder if anyone surveys the cases who arrive at the hospital - who can't afford the hospital - but wind up there because they couldn't afford anything leading up to what put them in there in the first place?  Read that again if you need to.  In the event of emergencies - they are the go to.  And they should be run to handle it as such.  No patient, if they are admitted to a hospital, are hooked up to monitors, IVs, should ever have to handle the discussion of how they expect to pay for their services while they are laying in a hospital bed.  How does anyone think those conversations really go?  And what is the impact to their patients?  I wonder if anyone's ever simply dropped dead from the conversation.  It really wouldn't surprise me.

And well, that's pretty much it.  It's astoundingly simple.  And it will take some work on the front end for doctors to essentially, go into business for themselves.  It may well even create more jobs - and hey, they'll be quite a few people looking for them with the elimination of the insurance companies - for those folks to manage the service plans, and market the practices.  In the end, it will make the medical industry competitive, which will force them to provide better and better care if they wish to stay in business.

You can still regulate them (as I believe they should be), and enforce accreditation, etc.  It's certainly not an industry where anyone can just hang a shingle and be open for business.  But essentially, it's treating the business of medicine and health care - as just that.  A business.  That certainly should appease the capitalists. And the fact that no one can be denied should appease the more socialist (is that the working opposite of captialist? I know it's such a charged word.  How about humanist? - I'm not even going to go near communi...see the problem with that?)

So there you have it.  I seriously want to understand the flaws and open the debate.  I'm having a hard time seeing what's wrong with this picture - which makes it even harder to understand the gigantic mess that's been made by all 50 states and their elected officials.  I think they are so far into the ridiculous rats nest that they can no longer even see the light of reason.  You should see what it takes to plan a meeting, much less pass a resolution!

Smiling At the Sky

What is it about fireworks that keeps us so entertained?  Is the pyrotechnic power illuminating the sky?  Is it the sheer impermanence of something so beautiful?  Perhaps its the just the apparent magic of all those sparkly things.  Maybe it's all of them.  But for me, the thing that gets me the most - and makes me cry every time - is the connection of the experience.  Millions of us, big, small, rich, poor, happy, sad, millions of us, crane our heads to the sky and watch, enraptured - like small children gazing at what seems like the most amazing thing we have ever seen (no matter how many times we've seen them).  The colors reflected in our eyes, mouths hanging open (I bet a lot of you don't realize how many of us do that during a display), in utter awe...it's almost religious.  For almost 2,000 years.  For almost 2 millenia, we have taken time from our lives to look to the sky and share an experience that is unlike anything else.  For a few moments, relatively, we are all the same, gathered for the same reason, sharing the same experience...in joy, and in peace, as we have done for a significant portion of recorded time.  You can explain it.  You can watch documentaries on how fireworks are designed, assembled, prepared, and launched.  You can study the science.  But the end result, no matter how diagnostic you've been, is always, ultimately, magical and uniting.  And maybe that's the magic that keeps us engaged...