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Cal Thomas-Bonus
A Respite From Reality
One Nation, One People-God Bless Us Everyone
Dr. Leavitt's Scary Diagnosis
Rich People Versus Politicians
Richardson's Exit And The Vetting Process



Health Care Reform Must Start Now
Froma Harrop 11/27/2008
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This would seem a heckuva time to unfurl a national health plan. Washington has big fires to put out in the financial markets. Taxpayers, meanwhile, face a zillion-dollar bill for economic stabilization on top of already soaring deficits. Can we afford a big new government program right now?

We have no choice. Health care is part and parcel of the economic crisis. Costing $2.4 trillion this year, our chaotic system drains the economy of resources that could go elsewhere. It straps ankle weights onto American businesses competing with foreign rivals whose governments have contained health-care spending.

The bright side is that comprehensive health-care reform could save Americans major money in the long run. You can't say "comprehensive" too many times. The goal isn't just finding more dollars to cover America's 46 million uninsured. Reformers must venture deep into the machinery of the health-care megalopolis and change a slew of perverse incentives that drive up medical costs.

We're not talking about the easy things, such as computerizing medical records or better managing chronic illnesses. Even covering the uninsured is simple to fix, according to Alan Sager, a health policy expert at the Boston University School of Public Health.

The
mission must be to end the enormous waste, which, Sager says, accounts for half of all health-care spending. Waste comes in numerous guises — paperwork battles, unnecessary care, too many medical specialists, high-priced brand-name drugs and defensive medicine to fend off lawyers, to name a few. The system engenders complexity and mistrust, which provides work for numerous lawyers, accountants, consultants and programmers, none of whom cure patients.

Changing the patterns of delivering care, however, will threaten many livelihoods. That's what has stopped reforms in the past. Politicians and the public must gird their loins for battle.

This time, the war must be won.

Happily, the dollars are already there to cover everyone and deliver high-quality care. We spend $8,000 a year per American on health care, double the average of wealthy countries. (And our $8,000 average includes millions of people with no insurance who see no doctors.)

What would the reforms look like? Sager suggests that state regulators and the federal government offer waivers to public and private payers to try new approaches. Start with the doctors. There are too many specialists and not enough family doctors. Specialists deliver expensive medicine.

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Posted By: Disco Seven  on Sunday, December 14, 2008

Unless you are a billionaire, health care will leave you broke.  Eventually it will abandon you anyway.  All that insurance you are paying wont get you nowhere close thru terminal illness.

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