U.S. healthcare is a costly mess because nearly
every part of it is infested by government. If the federal government would
just get out, the costs would fall, and the quality would rise, especially for
the poor.
Here’s the biggest problem of all: When
you obtain a health service, an insurance company or the government pays most
of the bill – not you. You have little incentive to ask, “What’s the cost?” Why
bother? Someone else is paying. Most hospital doctors don’t even know the costs. Buyers know the costs of
other products. If they knew healthcare
prices, you could bet they would fall.
Imagine going to a supermarket, buying the
food you want, and billing an insurance company for 80 percent of the cost. Forget
about hot dogs; only prime steak would do. And why not; you’d pay just 20
percent of the cost. If our food costs were paid mostly by third parties, the
costs would probably double, and their availability would likely fall by half,
especially for the poor.
Here’s the Number One
change America’s healthcare needs: The first several thousand dollars of
healthcare costs each year would be paid by the individual receiving the
service. Above this amount, every penny would be paid by insurance through a low-cost,
catastrophic policy, just as most Americans adopted only a few decades ago –
before government made its “improvements.”
Each month, you’d deposit a reasonable
amount into a Health Savings Account, from which your medical costs would be
paid. If the costs remain low, which is likely when you’re relatively young, the
excess rolls over to the next year. If you die, the excess goes to your
beneficiaries.
Here’s the Number
Two change needed: The government should sharply limit the penalties from
medical malpractice lawsuits, making it easy for clinics to write
legally-binding restrictions on liability. Say you fall and suffer a gash on
your arm. You might go to an emergency room, costing
over a thousand dollars. You might go to a doctor, (assuming you can find one
quickly), costing something like $150. But you’d be far better off going to a local clinic,
where a medical technician could patch you up for around $60. With the
liability issue settled, low-cost clinics would spring up everywhere.
Under the current, high-cost system, your
doctor fears being sued for malpractice. She calls for numerous tests to
make sure you’re okay. With tort laws improved, some of the tests would be considered
unnecessary, lowering costs.
The Number Three
change needed: Insurance companies should be allowed to offer a range of
policies, some with high coverage and high premiums, others with low coverage and
low premiums. Let’s say you don’t feel the need to be kept alive by heroic
measures at the end of your life. You would buy a policy that enables you to be
kept comfortable while nature takes its course. Bingo, your premiums would fall
significantly, right from the beginning.
Number Four:
Before giving approval for drugs, the federal government currently tests whether
the drug is safe and whether it works better than the competition or a placebo.
Wait a minute! The government doesn’t test other
products whether they’re better than the competition or a placebo. Those
matters are decided by the buyers. Omitting this second test would reduce the
cost of prescription drugs significantly.
Number Five: Why
should health insurance be deductible for people who are employed, when it’s
not deductible for individuals who are less prosperous and unemployed? To even
the score, individuals should be allowed to deduct their medical costs.
Government interference suppresses
innovation. Healthcare is ripe for the kind of efficiencies that have occurred in
other industries.
Without government
involvement, Americans, especially poor Americans, would pay far less for healthcare
and enjoy higher quality and greater availability.
Sent
to many papers June 26, 2017. Published by the Concord Monitor on June 28,
2017. Also published by the Council Bluff's Non Pareil in July.
