The Public Option

I decided I would post about the Public Option this morning. The most basic rationale is the fact that the Public Option has already been discounted by the legislative leadership. One can question Why there is so much determination to suppress measures which would actually pay for the definite constructional Expense of medical care in this Country. Some speculate, of which I am one, that it is because a Public Option would entail the suppression of Profits which could be earned by health Providers; the health industry today being the largest Cash Cow in the American marketplace, with the least response to recessionary conditions. It reminds of Railroad Freight rates back in the days when railway was the only means of getting Product to the Consumer. There will probably be the necessity of Congressional destruction equal to Progressive conquest of the Congress at the turn of the 20th Century in order to get an effective Public Option passed; there are simply too many Congressional personnel currently under the sway of the health care leadership because of political contributions.

There are two basic ways to approach a Public Option health care system. The first method is a system which pays for everything; which will defeat any real attempt at implementation. The health care industry is left to set all Prices for medical provision, and they feel no inhibition from maximizing their benefit under the system. The Outcome is what is expected; they creating an industry which exceeds normal business Profits and Rewards, offering themselves an enhanced lifestyle at the cost of the lifestyle of their neighbors. Advocates of the Public Option must prove there is no difference between this method of health care provision, and the system currently in force. No one will get achieve any significant advance in health care provision, as long as the Reward system of the health care industry remains off the table. This is allowed through the simple methodology of guaranteeing all medical Costs, which simply makes the Public Option too expensive; in final analysis, health care Providers can keep insisting on additional expensive medical procedures to drive the medical Costs beyond rational payment. The is also the greatest defeat of the Single Payer Option, where the Payer must face the concentrated opposition of a unionized industry.

The second method of Public Option can be called the Limited Pay Option. I like a program where All can utilize the Public Option, and Doctors must maintain a minimum Patient load, if they accept any Public funds. Then I would keep the payment system of the Public Option simple and easily understandable. I would suggest that a simple Schedule of payment be designed which will suppress medical Costs. I would advocate payment of $1 per Pill, $3 per Shot, $25 per Doctor Visit, $25 per Clinic evaluation, and a mandatory $250 per Day maximization for hospital stay. All Surgical operations would have a limit Cost of $250 per Event, as would any evaluation process like an MRI. Private health care Insurers would be limited by law to pay no more than 4 times the allowed payment of the Public Option, so that each Individual would be responsible for any remainder of payment. Individuals would have the support of the knowledge that the health care Provider had already received a substantial payment for his, her, or its medical services; under the matrix of Thought that there are far cheaper methods of medical care. The whole purpose of my Thought consists of a desire to establish a real market inside the health care provision industry. Could it work? Who knows, but it is worth trying! lgl