I appreciate today’s blog, but am still waiting to see you talk about Chiropractic.
Although MD’s are often really important to health, to ignore chiropractic care is like: Instead of doing a minor adjustment to the carburetor lets just give you a fuel additive. Then when you get tired of the additive only slightly working, we will do an irreversible operation where you get a new carburetor that will give you less power and mileage than the original and for some unknown reason left turns are harder to make. Consider the comparative cost and customer satisfaction.

In tying in with your comments, this proposal would allow local health care providers to bid on these services, and Utah to be able to demand a certain level of transparency, quality and value derived from it. This proposal would generate about $1.2 billion annually.

Please let me know what you think, as well as anyone reading this comment please let me know. The State’s appointed task force has limited time to act and I’d love to hear thoughts on this matter.

Thanks for your bog entries – I really enjoy reading them.

Matt Spencer
(Please post comments at our web site http://www.ahplans.org so I don’t place my e-mail on the web – thanks!)

Anthony Cirillo, FACHE

Great comments. Instead of a car, think of an electrician or plumber who has never seen the hidden wires or pipes in my house but can, yes can quote and stick to a price for a given job.

Chiropractic is but one solution that suprised me but of course “Your milage may vary”

As for transparency some doctors have a published rate of $100 but give insurance companies a discount of $80 or $70 depending on the company.

One problem with the analogy is that hospitals treat people for free and can be held accountable for not helping, unlike other business.

Yet I’ve never heard of a way for people to work off their hospital bill.

One problem is keeping the professional level of service – that is they fly in the ointment. People may be able to work around that problem as well.

Having people pay instead of the government sits better with me. I also do not like the idea of paying a good doctor the same amount as a bad one.

One good part of Mr. Cirillo’s idea is the bulk discount. That I can not argue with.

As always the parting question is “how would this play out, who would pay, during the pandemic?”

Regards,
Kobie

I am currently paying $14,000.00 plus per year for private sector provided health care insurance. This does not cover the cost of dental work, vision or Vet bills. The cost of a simple root canal provided by a local dentist is currently $900.00. The costs of health care in this country have gone completely out of all reason, sense, justifiability and control. The sheer extent of coordinated greed throughout the entire supply side of the American Health Care System is simply beyond belief. This is the very same system that the so called free market touting private sector has chosen for us on a take it and go bankrupt trying to pay for it, or leave it basis. So, it is well past high time that we all begin to realize that in the case of essential services the private sector simply can’t be trusted to do anything other than to economically bleed the demand side of the marketplace just as dry of cash as is it possibly can. Such is why the most essential system in the best interests of the average American, the American Health Care System, needs to be reigned-in by the a new National Health Care System. My Health Care System would function as follows:

1) The Federal Government would become a not for profit medical insurance company in essence, and would be the sole not for profit medical insurance company in the country. The existing Medical Insurance Companies could continue to exist, but would be in competition with the Federal Government’s Medical Insurance program. That, or they could simply move into other fields of insurance such as Medical Malpractice Insurance. Medicare and Medicaid would be folded into my new Health Care System.

2) The Federal Government would operate in exactly the same manner as would be the case with any private sector insurance corporation. It would take-in monthly premium payments, and would pay out claims to the medical providers.
As is the case with Social Security, participation in the National Health Care System would be mandatory for both employers (Large and small) and employees.

3) The existing private sector medical community would be responsible for providing the delivery of all medical services and products…medical, vision and dental The Federal Government would NEVER BE INVOLVED in the actual providing of medical services and products directly by itself.

4) By their combined payment of a mandatory monthly premium, employees and their employers would share the yearly cost of the system on a 50/50 basis, as is currently the case with Social Security. There would be no cap on the salary levels of those involved on the demand side of the system. The monthly premiums paid would be for both family and individual medical health coverage. People who are self employed would only pay the employee’s share of the monthly premium. Long term unemployed people would be carried by the system overall until they could obtain new employment. All extremely poor people, senior citizens, and people who have been outsourced out of work for less than 6 months would be covered by the system at a rate of $25.00 per month for individuals and $35.00 per month for family coverage.

5) Employers would be allowed and encouraged to drop their current employee Health Insurance Programs, and save an enormous amount of money from their current operating expenses as a result.

6) No US citizen could be denied coverage for any reason. Any illegal alien could be treated on an emergency basis, but would be deported following their return to health. Their return to health status would be determined at the sole judgment of their attending physician(s).

7) ALL Medical procedures would be covered, and no medical procedure could be denied…including elective or experimental surgery.

As is the case with the VA, the Federal Government would negoticiate all costs involved with representatives from all service and product providers involved, such as individual pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, the AMA, the AHA, the ADA, etc. Any provider who did not wish to participate, would not be forced to participate, but would then have to base their practices or product marketing efforts on those potential patients who had decided to continue to pay into the system, but to also pay on their own whatever prices that would be charged by the non-system providers.

9) All administrative costs of the program would be funded by the employers and employees who are covered by the National Health Care System. Therefore, such administrative costs would not come out of the Federal Government’s General Revenue Budget. As a result, there would be no increase in income taxes required to fund the system, and it should cost the average American and his or her employer much less than he or she or they are presently paying for their for profit health care insurance and copay and uncovered medical care costs.

10) For their own budgetary purposes, the Federal Government would never be allowed to touch one red cent of the funds paid into the system. The proper use of the funds would be overseen by the Executive and Congressional Branches of the government, on a balance of powers basis. Severe monetary fines and/or prison terms would be levied against anyone involved in the system who engages in any form of illegal or fraudulent practices with regards to their participation in the system. A local yearly audit of all providers would be required. The Federal Government would contract with the local auditors directly.

11) As mentioned earlier, and as is the case with the English Health Care System, the exclusively private sector medical delivery system would be allowed to continue, but those taking advantage of it, would still have to pay into the National Health Care System as well.

We have to get back to a system with reasonable costs, reasonable prices, reasonable profits, and a system that is fully available to all who need to make use of its products and services. It is a matter of life and death to a vast number of Americans that the currently greed riddled system of ours be fixed, and fixed for good.

It will never happen, and I mean NEVER HAPPEN, if we even consider trusting our health care fates to the so called free market system. And, for heaven’s sake, don’t even consider making the health care system in this country into a pure cash on the barrel head type of direct payer system, or you will literally bankrupt every “little person” in this entire country eventually, while the barons of the free market system continue to raise prices by 20% each year, and taunt anyone to do anything about it.

I trust that Secretary Leavitt could run the tab involved in the type of system that I am advocating within a reasonable period of time. I sincerely believe that the result will come-in at no where’s near the $14,000.00 per year health insurance premium and medical service and product co-pay costs that I am currently forced to pay. So, now you have on your plate a system that will work, and is affordable for the Average American. All Americans would be insured, and all would be a world of a lot better off than they are under the current health care system in this country. If it could only be implemented, it would for once and all fix a system that is most tragically broken today.

No doubt consumers can understand healthcare prices and most of healthcare services could be priced in a consumer friendly manner. Certainly when consumers must pay for a type of healthcare service themselves, providers adopt clear treatment descriptions and upfront, clear pricing.

Thank you for the interesting post.