What Are Some Alternative Ideas For Health Care Reform?
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Since many people are in opposition to the health care reform that Obama is proposing, what are some alternative ideas to health care reform? If there really is a problem with our medical system, what are some other ways of fixing it besides creating one centralized insurance company?
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Tags: Alternative, Care, Health....., Ideas, Reform, Some, What
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kathy_is says:
January 12th, 2010
12:13 pm
Health care savings accounts are one big aspect of it. People have an account that is created from which they can draw when they need health care. Since they are put in charge of their health care, they become “informed shoppers” because they get to KEEP the money they save. Once doctors, hospitals, clinics, therapists, etc., must “compete” like a REAL business, costs will drop.
Of course, we can’t talk about REAL reform without talking about tort reform… something which is glaringly lacking in the current bill.
Another (partial) solution is to make it possible for drugs to become generic faster. Let the government fund pharmaceutical research so the drug companies don’t have the overhead they want to recoup once a drug is discovered.
Anonymous says:
January 12th, 2010
2:36 pm
Start off by allowing people to still participate in the employer’s group insurance, even if they leave the company or lose their job.
(portability)
Allow us to shop around for the best coverage we want, across State lines.
Cap malpractice lawsuits. The fraud associated with false claims amounts to over $30 billion a year.
Stop covering Illegal aliens.
Michael P in NJ says:
January 12th, 2010
7:01 pm
Here’s my plan: Build a time machine, go back to 1948, and tell President Truman to pass it then, and if those Southerners don’t want to have black people treated in white hospitals, the President will federalize the National Guard and make it happen, and then he’ll pass the Civil Rights Act of 1948 and the Voting Rights Act of 1949. And if they try to secede, he’ll go Sherman on their keisters.
Seriously: That’s why it didn’t happen 60 years ago, because Southern States were afraid they’d have to treat black patients in white hospitals. Otherwise, universal health care would have happened then. Now, a black President is going to make it happen.
I might also tell Truman to start a space program. Most of 2009′s Republicans are spaced-out anyway, so we might as well be on Mars by 1973. (It’ll mess up that David Bowie song and both the U.S. and U.K. versions of a great cop show, but that’s a small price to pay.)
pdooma says:
January 13th, 2010
1:48 am
Co ops.
There’s a group in Philadelphia, among others, who does this very ably. Members pay into a central pot. The pot then negotiates rates with doctors and hospitals to pay CASH for services. There’s no insurance involved. There’s no waiting for payment for the doctors. Whatever treatments the doctor and patient together decide are needed are not denied by some faceless insurance company or government bureaucracy. They are all members of a community, it’s locally viable, and it works.
If you want to know more, here’s a news story about it.http://www.gawkk.com/christian-co-op-sha…
Smart Kat says:
January 13th, 2010
7:29 am
Health Care’s Six Money-Wasting Problemshttp://finance.yahoo.com/insurance/artic…http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/10/news/eco…
Tort reform would help. The liberals want to dismiss it because it won’t fix everything, but who says it has to? It is just PART of the equation!
Decreasing paperwork.
The government could choose to intrude to a small degree by mandating that the insurance companies standardize their paperwork or else the government would do it for them.
Those two issues would cut about half the waste in the health care industry.
We also need to allow the insurance market to open up across state lines. Gibbs was acting like we need a government option because in some areas there is only one or two insurance companies to choose from and a government option would allow competition. But if we allowed states to compete across state lines, the increased Competition would drive down insurance prices.
Also, on the Supply and Demand front, if we increased the number of doctors, that would decrease prices. Government loans and allowing immigrants on student visas to stay here if they are going into the medical field would help.
And how about vouchers for people who can’t afford insurance? If a person get laid off, the could get a voucher to help them keep their insurance until they get another job.
And allowing more people to band together to get insurance separate and apart from a business. That is a significant disadvantage of having your own business.
BravesFa says:
January 13th, 2010
9:56 am
If Government hasn’t run anything efficiently then what has. if we had no government there would be crime and chaos, and don’t give me this anarchy is good crap.
what should we do?
universalize it
universalize it
universalize it
i dont care if i have to pay for someone health care just provide it for anyone. if the government get’s too expensive then people should have the option of going private, it would be the right thing to do help out those who cant pay for it or those who DONT want to pay for it, but NEED to pay for it. if people stopped being so selfish and stupid we could get this done. someone yells socialism and people get scared, someone says capitalism and people applaud. if anything the later has been more lethal to human history
red top says:
January 13th, 2010
3:33 pm
a pool made up of the Insurance companies to handle low income families health programs and ensuring all medical bills are paid.This could result in lowering not only medical costs but also insurance costs and hospital stays and lower costs for employers insurance.its a win win deal.
M.E. says:
January 13th, 2010
7:50 pm
The Democratic package does not propose one centralized insurance company.
Republicans have offered some ideas, but most of them are geared toward increasing the profits of medical insurers and providers, and do little to address the main problem: rapidly increasing health-care costs.
Justme says:
January 13th, 2010
11:05 pm
Vote on Tarp reform, let people pick the insurance company they want instead of making them stick to one State.
Keep government out of our lives, they messed up:
Medicare
Medicaid
Social security
The U.S. Mail
Tell me one agency that has broken even or made money under the government
Melissa Baker says:
January 14th, 2010
3:13 am
Privatize Medicare.
Transfer Medicaid to states jurisdiction.
Deregulate insurance industry.
Pass caps on pain and suffering lawsuits.
Cap tax deductible plans and extend deducitibilty to individual plans.
Larry E says:
January 14th, 2010
6:23 am
Get a job and pay for your own insurance. That’s the way it used to work until half the people decided not to work and let welfare pay their way.
Jaz says:
January 14th, 2010
12:25 pm
Reduce federal and state mandates allowing more plan designs
Allow cross state shopping for more competition
Anonymous says:
January 14th, 2010
6:01 pm
~~ I have learned That you can’t please everybody all the time.
emp says:
January 14th, 2010
6:54 pm
How about this….follow the 10th amendment and let the states deal with it?
Lab Rat says:
January 14th, 2010
10:35 pm
First of all, as someone has already pointed out, government has NEVER run anything efficiently. Just a few minutes ago a news story was about the “clash for clunkers” program. At the end of July, after Congress had grossly underestimated the cost for it, they had to rush through a vote for an extra $2B. Now car dealers are saying the program is “a bureaucratic nightmare”, only 1 of 4 claims have been paid and many dealers are suspending participation until (if?) it’s straightened out. This is your government at work. Is it any wonder no one wants them in charge of health care?
Obama is talking about complete overhaul, why the rush, especially with the economy still not stable? Why not start with some small things and see how that works? I’ve heard several ideas, cap malpractice, let physicians who see patients with little or no coverage deduct those expenses from their taxes, & let people buy insurance across state lines. People also need to take some responsibility, an ER should only be used in an actual emergency. I’m in a mid-sized city and there are plenty of clinics and minor emergency centers that are open 7 days a week. If you’ve got a sore throat, the office visit & culture might cost you a total of $150 but that’s a lot better than a $500plus ER visit.