Why something needs to be done
I am not in favor of regulating every problem the country has, but the healthcare issue has not been resolved and needs serious attention. The lack of competition, no cost control, citizens without coverage, and other factors have brought us to a bad state of health.
Most people are out of the loop on pricing because their job buys health insurance. Doctor offices do not want to provide rates for treatment prior to being seen. This lack of information on pricing keeps people in the dark and costs out of control.
47 million or more Americans do not have healthcare. You may think this is an unfortunate problem for the person without healthcare, but their health is the health of our nation. Some use emergency rooms for primary care which increase overall costs.
If you think that only poor people do not have healthcare, then think again. Many are small business owners and their employees. Small business cannot afford insurance for their employees, and big business keeps moving jobs out of the country so they don’t need to provide health insurance. One factor for GM moving its manufacturing to Canada was to save on healthcare because Canada has national health.
The health insurance industry will tell you that they have a right to make a profit. I am for strong and profitable businesses, but the health of our nation is too important to be based on profit motives.
The headlines about healthcare are not encouraging.
Reported in the Oregonian February 26, 1999, p.B2, “The HMO industry’s move to raise prices, cut payments to doctors and abandon unprofitable Medicare customers is paying off in higher profits.”
Reported in Fortune Magazine, March 15, 1999, p.188, “Small companies have been flocking to join healthcare alliances…In some cases they’ve been able to drive down costs by 10% to 15%…Just as New York City launches its first purchasing group, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Oxford Health Plans, and United Healthcare have bowed out. Those three companies would say only that the alliance didn’t fit into their plans. Critics say the holdouts (insurance companies) think they can make more money selling to individual companies.”
This article will discuss the issues and provide a reasonable solution for each issue.
