The health care bill has been passed, but the battle has only begun. So there is still good reason to investigate better solutions. I'll pop out the ones I came up with several years ago, just to get the imagination fired up.
1) All medical and drug research and development that proves to have promise should be paid for by taxpayer dollars. Then when the medical procedure, equipment or drug becomes available, the makers cannot add R&D costs to the prices they charge. A $150 prescription would fall to under $20. A $500,000 machine would cost the hospital less than $50,000. Also, since R&D dollars do not need to be recouped, the drug companies do not need exclusive licenses, and generics can be made available much sooner. Instead, a flat 15% tax on medicine and new developments would help fund the R&D. That would still mean a huge savings - the $150 prescription would still only be $23.
2) Insurance companies would list the various components of their coverages - major medical, catastrophic, prescriptions etc. Consumers can put together a personalized policy based only on their needs. All insurance can be purchased anywhere, regardless of the state in which you live. You could shop around and get your major medical from company A, your prescriptions from company B etc. Comparison shopping for components always reduces overall costs, as insurers must then compete with one another.
3) Medical malpractice suits limited to actions involving wrongful intent or wrongful gross negligence. Mere negligence, caused by an unintended accident is only human. Gross negilgence is different - and would have to have a degree of intent to it. Lawsuits for accidental harm would be limited to actual losses. In other words, punish those who do wrong, but not those who simply make a human mistake.
4) Lawyers in malpractice suits should be limited to a fair wage for the number of hours involved. No more of this collecting a large percentage equaling millions.
5) Like drivers who pay higher premiums if they are accident prone, people who make poor life choices would pay higher insurance premiums. If you smoke, drink, eat too much sugar or salt - well, expect to pay more, because you are the one who is driving up costs for everyone else.
6) Require "food" manufacturer's to limit additives, chemicals, antibiotics and pesticides in their foods to only the necessary amounts for preservation. The so-called "food" available in supermarkets is so inferior as food that it causes nearly 60% of all maladies. Perhaps subsidize producers of natural, organic foods to make good, wholesome food less costly. Subsidies could be paid for from taxes imposed on manufacturer's for their use of chemicals. If they add high fructose corn syrup, for example, they must pay a tax to do so. That tax income would subsidize the production of wholesome foods. If healthy foods cost less than unhealthy foods, more people will eat the healthy foods, resulting in a healthier nation. That means less burden on the health care system, resulting in better quality and lower costs. The biggest (no pun intended) users of the health care system are the poor among us, because they simply cannot afford wholesome foods or a healthy diet.
These few simple things are estimated to reduce costs of health care by at least 22%. And since the only thing wrong with America's health care is its expense, this reduction in cost would not affect quality of care, but would put millions more people in reach of affordable health care.
The ONLY people who should be getting free or subsidized care are children and those who, by no fault of their own, cannot care for themselves. This would not include people who are capable but unwilling to care for themselves.
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