Problems with the Health Care System

1. Lack of Consumer Awareness of Medical Pricing - Most consumers are unaware of what medical care costs or the availabilty of lower cost options to the medical care that they receive. Many medical plans isolate the customer from the true costs of the service and use co-payments that do not vary with the cost of the service.
2. Excessive Government Restrictions and Requirements on Health Care - In many areas, government require medical plans and providers to include certain services even if they are morally opposed to the service.
3. Frivolous Medical Lawsuits - There are way too many lawsuits about medical malpractive encouraged by lawyers hoping to make a quick buck.
4. Unaffordable Health Care for Many - The current system makes it hard for the poor to select low cost health care that covers basic areas or covers emergency or life threating situations.
5. Lack of General Health Care Coverage Options - The current system encouraged by government regulations generally treat all consumers as if they want the same coverage "one size fits all". There is some consumer choice in whether to use a HMO, a PPO, or a general medical insurance and some have the option of a Medical Saving Account, but these tend to follow the same mold and not a great variety in the options of health care available.
6. Lack of Diversity in Medical Oversight - Overseeing Medical Associations, whether government based (federal or state) or non-profit organization, currently are monopolistic in nature, and tend to advocate views based on politics rather than true medical science.
7. Excessive Medical Pricing - In many areas, primarily where competition is limited, medical prices are excessive and prey on consumer by encouraging their fears or providing incomplete information about the product. Comparitive analysis between products is not widely available.
8. Poor Handling of Pre-existing conditions - Health care plan providers often use pre-existing conditions as an excuse to avoid coving particular medical problems.
9. Fraudulent Abuse of the System - There are people who take advantage of the system by submitting false claims.

What can the Industry Do

Provided that the government permits free market activity in the medical industry, it should:

1. Develop Health Care Plans that allow the consumer to be more aware of medical prices.
2. Develop Health Care Plans that permit choice in how medical malpractice will be handled. - These could be ligiation, arbitation, overseeing bodies, etc. that would investigate claims of malpractice and take the appropriate actions and recompense to the victims. These should include ways for consumer to appeal the decision if they feel the problems are not being addressed.
3. Develop Health Care Plans that address the specific needs of different groups, including religious affliation and those with limited budgets.
4. Affliate with Medical Associations that share their moral views and disaffliate with those who do not.
5. Form Medical Assocations that advocate a particular moral view to provide guidance to likeminded medical professionals and organizations.
6. Provide consumers with detailed medical pricing for the services that they recieve and how they can save on what they pay through different options.
7. Establish Retirement Health Care Accounts (RHCA) - RHCA's are accounts funding future health care coverage at retirement. At the time of retirement, the value of the account should be equated into a level of contribution towards health care coverage. 40 years of contributions to the account by employers should yield a low-copay full health coverage plan.
8. Establish a common medical information exchange standard, that permit the communications of medical records between medical professionals.

What can Government Do

Here Government refers to the federal and state governments. The federal government needs to insure that state governments do not violate freedom of conscience rights of medical providers and personnel.

What can Employers Do

1. Provide a diversity of subsized health care options for their employees.
2. For smaller employers, they can band together into communities to share in health care plans.
3. Better educate their employees on how to manage the cost of health care.
4. Fund Retirement Health Care Accounts (RHCA) for their employers

General Discussion

By improving consumer awareness of health care costs and promoting more diversity in the health care industry, the free market system should promote lower health care costs and improved health care for most Americans.

There will be consumers who do not want to take the effort to better manage the cost of their health care, but many will. Some will not be able to manage it, but hopefully their plans will guide them in cost-effective high quality medical decisions.

While there will be those, who in the effort to make money, will provide low quality care, overall the health care system should be significantly improved.

It may develop under the free market, two or more major flavors of healthcare, differentiated by the moral views of the providers and consumers. This is fine. Many Christians today feel that many providers are unethical today by the type of medicine practiced (providing/recommending contraceptives for example) and the result on the patient, their families, and the overall community and do not want to use these providers if they can help it. Likewise, many people living a lifestyle of getting the most out of the moment, want providers to assist in this philosophy and object to the ethical providers who will not assist them in this.

In the last few decades, politicians has used the medical industry to advance their own political views at the expense of the American citizen. Exemptions are granted in law and in government practice (against the law) to subset of medicine that advocate certain political views. This needs to stop, but will not with the current state and federal government leaders, so diversity of view most be allowed for and freedom of conscience must be permitted.

The federal government over time should see cost savings in healthcare they provide and may be able to expand its coverage for the poor and disabled.

Other Comments

The news program 20/20 had a report in late summer 2007 on the health care situation in the United States that illustration some othe problems with the current system in the United States as well as the problems with Governmental provided universal care, such as in Canada.

© 2007 by Thomas A. Stobie, SFO - permission to copy for personal use is granted.