BLOGS FROM US

My friend, Huli, is right. The biggest problem with healthcare in America is cost, and it’s a whopper. In 2008, $2.3 trillion was spent on healthcare by all sources in our Country. And the amount grows higher each year. In this Part of Healthcare Ideas From Us, Huli and I will share our thoughts, and Riley’s, about fixing the cost problem while maintaining quality.

Huli, what are the consequences of our growing healthcare costs?

Huli: The increasing price tag is making healthcare unaffordable for many, even the Federal Government. The CBO reports that the biggest threat to the stability of our economy in the coming decade is the amount budgeted for Medicare and Medicaid. And that doesn’t include the staggering cost of ObamaCare.

Sidney: Let’s talk about why healthcare is so expensive. Advances in medical technology account for 50% of the increase over the last 10 years. This is unlike other industries where technology reduces cost through improved efficiency. What’s different about healthcare? Many of the new procedures require expensive, cutting-edge drugs and equipment, and specialized medical skills.

Huli: Other factors boost cost, too. A profit motive in overdrive. An overburdened delivery system that will only worsen with our growing population. And, too many of our increasing numbers with bad health habits and lawyers on speed dial. Then there’s the waste of administrative inefficiencies and the opportunities for fraud it creates. And, like other industries, inflation raises costs over time.

Sidney: Let’s face facts. Healthcare will always have a cost angle unless we’re willing to dumb-down the technology and the people who administer it. How many of us want “free” healthcare from humans who graduated at the bottom of their medical school classes? And who will raise her hand for rationed care?

Huli: But, what about Rational Care? My blue pencil can slash the fat to make treatment affordable while keeping high-quality care. Like, cutting administrative waste and fraud by using information technology infrastructures to modernize that ugly step-sister of healthcare. And motivating us to eat healthy diets and follow good exercise programs.

Sidney: Rational Care must also scrap the costly procedures used only as check-box defenses in malpractice actions. Shouldn’t medical science decide what procedures and medications are needed rather than personal injury attorneys paid by the case? If greed wasn’t good even for Gordon Gekko, we sure don’t want it in healthcare.

Huli: Similarly, there’s no demonstrated correlation between high cost and the quality of care in our system. How about incentive bonuses for developing superior treatment regimens delivered at low cost?

Sidney: And the biggest change of all? Turn all hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical houses into tax-exempt non-profits requiring them to plow their former profits back into reducing costs. Let Rational Care go a long way to financing itself.

Huli: We still want to highly compensate the people who make healthcare happen, because we want to attract the best to do their best.  But, at the same time, it’s obscene for companies to profit from the ills of others.

Sidney: Rational Care will require oversight by an independent, qualified board, with judicial review as a last resort.  And the board members must be appointed by a competent panel of experts, with politicians nowhere in sight.

Those are our broad-brush ideas. Thanks for letting us share them.

See you on the left-side.

Most everyone criticizes the healthcare proposals from Obama and Congress. Many believe the remedies are far worse than the ills they’re supposed to cure. So, Sidney and I have come up with a couple of thoughts about how to fix things. You know, some healthcare tires for folks to kick.

I’m going to write about the first part – the problems we could try solving and the approach we might use. Next week, Sidney will present some solutions.

The first thing to do is decide what we really want to accomplish in healthcare. Forget about the politicians and their syrupy, self-serving speeches. What’s important? Doing nothing? Doing something? How about this: solid, affordable healthcare that covers all Americans, including our pre-existing conditions.

Is this a good idea? If you’re right-brained like me, you’re in favor because it makes you feel good. And if you’re left-brained like Sidney, you want it, too, because it makes sense.

What’s so sensible about it? A healthy population goes a long way to keeping a country’s economy purring. Isn’t it better to have hale and hearty, productive citizens rather than a society of sick ones? And if preventative medicine is any good, healthcare for Americans will end up saving money in the long run. You know, an ounce of checkups is worth a ton of medical procedures.

The next thing we need is the right approach to meeting our goal. How do we get there? For starters, without the politicians. We’ve seen how they behave. Doling out pork to each other. Secret wheels and deals with industry leaders. Huge deficits that we’ll never pay off. Slow death by government. To be successful, we must separate self-interest from the solution process. That means no politicians.

There’s another reason to just say no to politicians. Congress is not qualified to develop a comprehensive healthcare plan.  Of the 535 voting members, over 450 have lived lives saturated in politics. They’ve been state legislators, governors and lieutenant governors, former congressional staffers, White House aides, cabinet secretaries and town mayors. A lot of political jobs. Not a lot of real-life experience.

Politicians don’t even try to fake the necessary expertise. How many bothered reading the thousands of pages in the House and Senate bills before voting along party lines? According to them, almost none.

If we have any doubt about how bad politicians are at creating healthcare systems just look at Medicare and Medicaid. According to the CBO, current federal spending for those two entitlements is the “biggest single threat” to budget stability. It will grow faster than the economy over the next 10 years. And politicians have zero inclination to do anything about it, except spend more.

But, eliminating the politicians is not the end. It’s the beginning. Who will develop a solution? A group with proper expertise and no financial stake in the outcome. A combination of medical scientists and business people with experience in the healthcare industry, but not beholden to it. Both are needed to develop a common sense, workable solution. And next week, we can read about one.

See you in the mirror.