Is there a solution for the health care problem in the USA?

Question

According to the Calif. HealthCare Foundation, 4.5 times the amount of money spent on national defense is spent on health care in the USA. This amounts to $6423 per person annually, or $535 for every man, woman, and child per month.
How can the nation address this staggering amount of money? Is there a single solution, or will it take an overhaul of the entire medical industry?
What are your ideas on this subject?

Answer 1

We need to start by reducing costs through tort reform. The next step would be tax deductions for health care. These are 2 great ideas touched on by Bush last night (Did I just say that?).

It is not a one step process. Allowing importation of drugs from Canada, allowing MediCare to shop for lower drug prices, allowing citizens to "buy-in" to the same health care plan their elected representatives get for free - these are all steps that can be taken.

We pay more in this country for heath care than the rest of the world, but are far from the top as far as infant mortality, longevity, and obesity. We are paying too much for what we are getting.

A government takeover of healthcare would be a nightmare. Costs would skyrocket, and efficiency would decline.

Answer 2

With a family member who is a doctor, I know the high cost of malpractice insurance is one reason they have to run it like a business, not a mercy operation. This is not due to the expense of correcting mistakes in medical practice but the greed of lawyers who get the larger portions of teh awards. people don't realize teh "tobacco settlement" taht kicked back dso much money to states and local governments is smaller than the amount shared by the nation's top lawyers. It's also an issue of supply and deman, pharmaceuticals use income from licensed products to develope new products, but most of teh healthcare programs Hillary has come up with so far only inflate drug costs because companies know they will sell them to everyone who needs them if the government is willing to pay for it, so it boosts, not punishes the drug companies if put into effect. If teh drug companies don't make enough money, then they extort the government by not meeting production qoutas, this happened with an outfit in the UK who developed far less flu vaccine and pain relieving drugs for terminally ill patients. I'm not really for legalization of marijuana but that was one instance where socialized healthcare would make it a medical neccessity, and an obvious reason the pharmaceuticals would rather destroy your liver then allow you to simply grow your own. Unfortunatly, the last qualified body to "overhaul" anything and make it more efficient is the U.S. Government, just look at the tax code, how many times have they made that worse by "overhauling"? Both parties just look at these things as how they can most undercut the financial backers of the other party, but we need to look at the performance of national healthcare in other countries closely before we launch one of our own, of instance the talk of euthanesia in the UK, or at least denial of services to those patients doctors feel are less important to the good of the country. Guess what? We're all terminal, I don't want a doctor making the decision of life and death for me based on what he thinks my worth is. No easy answer on this question.

Answer 3

As one of the 45 million without access to affordable health care I can tell you that a solution must be found, one thing I see is we must eliminate the insurance company's profit in this matter and to do that the government must take some role in it.
It is a bigger problem the people see on the surface, the CEO of General Motors has said that $1500 of every new car sold is the cost of health care for its employees and retiree's. Everybody that buys a new car pays this "tax", I am sure that in proportion that it is applicable to other industry's. This makes it harder for the U.S. to compete in the global market as it drives up the cost and in other country's where the government supplies the health care this problem does not exist, we pay more for health care then any other country and yet we rank way down the list as far as quality.
Therefore I believe that Universal Health Care is an idea whose time has come. This could be the best answer.

Answer 4

Bailing out the banks was a mistake, and so are these idiotic health care plans the idiots are coming up with. Why not start with fixing what is already in place 1st, eg Medicare, which just happens to be run by the government, that you obviously want to take over the whole health care system. Geez, they cannot even run that how in the world do you expect to run one that will effect the whole country, please get some common sense.

Answer 5

If people would take the time to see what our government is suppose to do and not do they would find that the health and welfare of the people are the responsibility of the State Government not the Federal. The former governor of Mass. knew that and did something about it. I'm still puzzled how similar groups usually on the left side of politics will freak out about a National ID card but push for the National Health...."I don't want big brother watching me but I want him to give me a rectum examine..."

Answer 6

I liked the HMO concept. They help reign in costs but that needs to be expanded.
I HATE universal health care. You should see how the uninsured and welfare people use hospitals as a hotel. This would only make it easier for fraud and waste on their part. I know of 2 Milwaukee area hospitals that closed because of this problem and a couple more who refuse to treat the uninsured unless it is a life-threatening emergency.

Answer 7

Daily yoga, pranayam, dhyan for 15-20 minutes. Reduce meals intake, avoid rich meals, take fruits, avoid wine, drink more water, daily walk for 1-2 KMs etc. can do wonders.

Answer 8

The solution is to eliminate 99% of the government oversight, and allow the market to respond to the needs of the marketplace. Markets are the most effective at distribution of resources and wealth, so let the market heal itself.

Answer 9

create a universal free health care just like canada

Answer 10

To address health care you have to examine the cost of treatment . Seems there is a lot that can be done to lower the cost of health care . They spend so much on just administration and collecting money from insurers . I have worked in hospitals doing various construction /remodeling and have come to the conclusion that way to many people are involved .
Like anything that makes money it has surrounded itself with bureaucracy and paper work a mile high .I understand the need for records and have seen two and three floors of records in buildings adjacent to hospitals . This was suppose to decrease with the advent of computers .We can now store images and entire files on computer but still do little to slow the piles of paper work . I think it is done so attorneys have paper work to examine in case of law suits . So much is generated and controlled by the hospital that you can create records at will if needed .
When I was young I went to Dr. Bunn who had an office that was a converted three bedroom house . He had One nurse and saw 30 kids a day . He also had time to go to the hospital and consult if needed . He basically gave out prescriptions for colds, allergies ,asthma ,fevers ,and gave shots for immunizations for school purposes . If you had bad allergies or reactions blood work was taken at the office and some time later you got called back for the results . Some more testing might occur to determine what was causing the reaction but that was not often . My brother and two sisters saw Dr. Bunn also and as we grew we needed to seek another doctor . Well outside of a few stiches I have needed no additional care . My sisters however have had children all healthy but still the cost of having a child is over 5000 dollars .My brother-in-law had a kidney removed and that cost over 100,000 plus follow up office visits one a month for the first 6 months then 1 after three then 6 and now he is once a year .
Those additional office visits and blood work cost another 12,000 . The surgery took 4hours from the time he left the room till he was in the recovery room and could be seen after surgery . Then a few hours later back to his room and a week of recovery . Now the actual surgery took under an hour and a half . 5 people all of whom needed to be paid well for their skill and professional knowledge . A little over 35,000 dollars . The room charge alone was 4000 for the operating room each day was 600 plus additional charges amounting to a small fortune . 4 days to figure out he was not passing a kidney stone, x-rays ,scans ,blood work he was a pin cushion for 4 days and then the results .,An emergency room visit at 3 am had got him admitted to a hospital after two visits to other doctors who told him it was a kidney stone and it would hurt but pass in a week or so . Well it was not a kidney stone (cancer) removed and he is fine but with this level of billing and costs something has got to be adjusted and redone in order to better serve patients .He is fully insured not a penny came out of his pocket .Retired military officer and government contractor employee making over 100 grand .
Now he was not interested in suing the two doctors who got it wrong and has not and will not . He did how ever let The in house medical claims people know that they should seek reimbursement from the billing submitted by those other two doctors . They never followed up .They said doubtful anything would come of it . He also sent the two doctors a letter asking them to return the fee's they collected from his insurance . We all know nothing was returned but he did receive a letter from an attorney regarding his request and wanted him to come in and give a deposition on the record . He was not that interested and all he wanted was them to Admit you made an error and return the money you charged . That would have been the right thing to do .
I do not feel bad for people who call the pyshcic hot line ,there money to waste just like gambling ,smoking ,drug use, if you want to waste money you earn go right a head . But when you seek professional help and they are wrong ,the correct thing is to return any and all payments .
Guess you do have to file a lawsuit to get them to admit or at least return the money . This is what drives up the cost of health care . Billions of dollars to keep documents and records of every single step the ,nurse ,doctor, lab ,cleaning guy and everyone involved so they can show a jury that everything humanly possible was done .
The blame game costs us billions and each persons share is a few thousand dollars .
No wonder it costs so much for health insurance .
Some one as smart as me needs to come up with a plan that increases the level of care and reduces the number of people involved . I volunteer to work on this project and feel that 32 million will get the ball rolling . I will need staff office space company credit cards ,travel expenses to hospitals in Hawaii And then Europe for six months to examine health care and come up with a plan . Observing what workers and what does not and streamlining the health care industry . I already want to eliminate the insurance companies . Wait they donate 100,000,000 to campaigns . Well anyhow the report I make will solve the problem but never get implemented . See government wants to take a cracked engine block and rebuild it putting in all new parts and filling the crack with bondo . It will run great till it warms up and is required to actually work .LOL a nightmare is all we will get out of health care reform . Millions spent investigating and nothing will be done .
The problem in most deaths is infection caused by an un clean hospital . Janitors who clean make around 18,000 a year .I know of rooms that house mainframes that are cleaner dust free germ free bug free negative air pressure threw one door to positive air pressure and 68 degrees with halon systems designed to snuff out a fire in seconds . Smoke and heat detectors under the floor on the ceiling Fire extinguishers on the wall ..
Yet a hospital as its leading cause of death is infection . Go figure . Now one cares about the people . We are the equipment used by the 1% who own 80% of everything .you see touch taste watch and thought you own . They have their hands on all of it and to them it is just a game . Something to keep people busy so they do not notice what is going on around them .
Well I have dragged this one out quite long enough . Thanks for your support and the points . If you answered more of my Questions I would be able to return the favor .