Health Care Reform Paper

In order to meet the health care needs of all US citizens, I propose the following:

We must reform the current health care model and payment systems due to fundamental problems in our system:

Current issues:

Health care costs are rising faster than inflation, and medical debt may be one of the principle causes of bankruptcy in the United States. One historical problem with the U.S. system was known as job lock, in which people become tied to their jobs for fear of losing their health insurance, which reduces the flexibility of the labor market. A fundamental change in our health care system is essential in addressing these issues and would result in a significant impact.

A wealthy or highly insured patient in a system based on profit or ability to pay may be pushed into surgery or other procedures more quickly, with a result in higher morbidity or mortality risk. This is in addition to the better-understood phenomenon in which lower-income, uninsured, or under-insured patients have their care denied or delayed, also resulting in worse health care.

The system I propose would operate on four basic principles:

1) Administration: All administration of health insurance must be carried out by a public authority on a non-profit basis. They also must be accountable and their records and accounts are subject to audits.

2) Universality: All insured residents are entitled to the same level of health care.

3) Portability: A resident that moves to a different state is still entitled to coverage from their home state during a minimum waiting period. This also applies to residents which leave the country.

4) Accessibility: All insured persons have reasonable access to health care facilities. In addition, all physicians, hospitals, etc, must be provided reasonable compensation for the services they provide.

Funding:

Under this model, individual citizens would be provided preventative care and medical treatments from primary care physicians, as well as access to hospitals, dental surgery and additional medical services. There would be no need for the person who accesses health care to be involved in billing and reclaim. Private insurance would only be a minimal part of the overall health care system. Competitive practices such as advertising are kept to a minimum, thus maximizing the percentage of revenues that go directly towards care. In general, costs are paid through funding from income taxes. There would be no deductibles on basic health care and co-pays are extremely low or non-existent.

Services provided and cutting costs:

Pharmaceutical medications would be covered