Saturday, December 08, 2007

Any Health Care Plan

Everyone should read this Opinion by Paul Krugman, though I really don’t know why, as We all understand that any Health Care plan must be paid for; and any Payment plan must have some form of mandate. I would approach the entire Problem in a different manner, which seems somewhat complicated in design, but would be very simple in action. I will try to outline the basic components of the Plan, warning All that the opposition from the Health Care industry will be great.

The biggest Problem with Health Care comes from the increasing Costs of that Care. The entire health care industry is currently geared towards providing the most expensive health care available, as all of the newer medical techniques are covered by Patents, in one form or another. The health care industry goes to great Expense to educate medical personnel in these new techniques, so that they are readily adopted. Older, less expensive techniques, no longer covered by Patents, are still viable in most medical Cases, and could be utilized in the greatest majority of Cases. Any mandate must be coupled with some form of compulsion on the medical community to utilize the cheaper forms of health care, until more expensive forms of medical treatment are found to be necessary. The rationale for this coercion lay in the necessity of making universal health care as Cost-effective as possible.

My Plan would consist of a legislative mandate which would limit all medical Payments to Doctors or Clinics to an amount per Patient equal to the estimated yearly Cost of any health care tax imposed upon Workers; an equal amount which would impact as tax upon all Employers. Surgical procedures and Hospital Stays per Patient would be limited payment equal to only four times the average yearly Cost per Worker of the taxation. Medical Equipment will be amortized over the life of the Patient, where Payment cannot exceed one month’s estimated Average of Cost of a Worker’s yearly mandated health care tax; the total Price of the medical equipment is treated like a Mortgage, and paid by the Health Care Plan. The legal Mandate for the health care system would dictate that nothing in the health care industry can bill any Patient any year, for more than one month’s Average Estimated Cost per Patient of any health care taxation as Co-Payment. The legal Mandate for the health care system will precisely state that all Health Care Providers must average their Costs among their entire Patient load, and assume any financial burden which is assumed with individual Patient Care exceeding the limits imposed. Will it work?–We’ll see. lgl

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