It is en vogue to consider U.S. health care sub-par. Americans are less healthy than other countries but it's not because we don't spend enough on care. It's because we depend too much on health insurance to make us healthy.
To me if health care is broken in the U.S., it is broken for two reasons: 1. medical coverage is tied to employment and 2. economic considerations are removed from the equation by insurance companies.
My two fixes to U.S. health care would be to allow (through de-regulation or regulation, whichever it requires) allow consumers to shop for healthcare based on their own desires for coverage (extreme catastrophic coverage, e.g. only cover procedures over $50K, all the way down to full coverage of toe nail clipping and nose wiping) without ties to their employer. This fix would remove the pre-existing condition problem. It is one solution the new healthcare exchanges attempt to provide.
To fix the second problem, I think health insurance companies and medical facilities should be required to show their prices for all treatments and procedures. If my health insurance will pay up to $5K for me to have my appendix removed and there is a doctor that I trust who will remove it for $250.00, I should be able to choose that doctor and my insurance premiums should reflect the choices that I make with my coverage.
If health care were handled like this, people could save thousands of dollars on their health coverage by making responsible decisions about what types of coverage to get and how much to spend on treatment. The money saved could be used to pay for things that are not required or to save for other lifestyle choices.
To me if health care is broken in the U.S., it is broken for two reasons: 1. medical coverage is tied to employment and 2. economic considerations are removed from the equation by insurance companies.
My two fixes to U.S. health care would be to allow (through de-regulation or regulation, whichever it requires) allow consumers to shop for healthcare based on their own desires for coverage (extreme catastrophic coverage, e.g. only cover procedures over $50K, all the way down to full coverage of toe nail clipping and nose wiping) without ties to their employer. This fix would remove the pre-existing condition problem. It is one solution the new healthcare exchanges attempt to provide.
To fix the second problem, I think health insurance companies and medical facilities should be required to show their prices for all treatments and procedures. If my health insurance will pay up to $5K for me to have my appendix removed and there is a doctor that I trust who will remove it for $250.00, I should be able to choose that doctor and my insurance premiums should reflect the choices that I make with my coverage.
If health care were handled like this, people could save thousands of dollars on their health coverage by making responsible decisions about what types of coverage to get and how much to spend on treatment. The money saved could be used to pay for things that are not required or to save for other lifestyle choices.