Why Health Care Is So Expensive - and How To Fix It

There are several reasons why health care in America is so expensive, and they may not be what you expected...

1) INSURANCE. Insurance always increases the cost of things, because medical providers can charge more to insurance companies. Since the insured does not have to pay much of the bill, he has no cause to complain. This is precisely why medical providers charge much less to those without insurance. If they can charge less to one person, they can charge less to all.Also, insurers are classic "middle men", who must be paid for the services they provide.

Solution: the caps that Medicare and Medicaid put on medical services should be across the board, regardless of insurance. Doctors would not lose money as long as the following solutions are also included in the health plan.

2) EXCESSIVE TESTING. Doctors order many more tests than are necessary in order to protect themselves from expensive malpractice suits. All those unnecessary tests get expensive. Which brings us to...

3) MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS. Believe it or not there are people who sue just to try and wrangle money out of doctors and hospitals. In many cases the medical providers simply settle out of court - it's cheaper. And when they don't, awards can be in the millions, so malpractice insurance is very expensive - a cost that providers must pass on to their patients.

Solution: Put reasonable caps on awards. And only proven gross negligence should be allowable as "cause". Medicine is not cut-and-dried science. That's why they call it the PRACTICE of medicine. Nothing is guaranteed, and doctors - just like you and me - can make honest mistakes.

4) REFERRALS. The medical community thrives on the "patient revolving door".  No matter what you see the doc for, chances are he will try to automatically set you up with a "follow up" visit - costing you more money. In most cases it is not necessary. In some cases any "follow up" could be done by phone without cost,  but that would not put extra cash in the docs pocket.

And then there is the "referral merry-go-round". You may know that you need to see a "gut" specialist - a gastroenterologist. But you can't just make an appointment with one, because your personal care physician can't tap your wallet that way. Nope. You gotta go see him, first, and pay for that office call just to have HIM set up an appointment for you with the gut guy - who mat, in turn refer you to some other doctor.

 Solution: Patients should be able to make appointments directly, without a PCP go-between, if they already know who they need to see. EXAMPLE: I had a gastro guy in Maine. I have UC. I moved to VA and knew I need to have a new gastro guy. But to get one, I first had to get a PCP give me a refedrral. I KNEW what I needed - there was no need to have a PCP tell me what I already knew, and charge me $220 to do so.

5) PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. These are a license to steal, especially when they keep changing the use of the drug. Drug manufacturers have 7 years to profit as much as possible from their drug before the patent lapses and others can make cheaper generic versions. It's called the "exclusivity period". Designed to help them profit after investing so much into it. But they often profit TOO much. If they can find another use for the drug when the 7 years is up, they can keep their monopoly on it for another 7, and so on.

Solution: First, exclusivity periods should not be permitted more than once per new drug. And if generics can be made so much more cheaply, then so can the original product IF the research and development costs were offset. This can be accomplished by having the government subsidize the R&D, reducing the cost to the drug maker. And by subsidizing, those costs are divided among all taxpayers, and not just the sick. If taxpayers can foot the bill for treadmills for shrimp, or tunnels for turtles, I think the health of the people should be getting first dibs on that money. Subsidize R & D, and remove that cost from the product.

6) UNHEALTHY LIFESTYLES. This is the BIG one. If people were to choose healthier lifestyles, there would be far less need of health care to repair the damage. From the foods we choose to consume, to the amount of exercise we participate in, and to other choices such as smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction, poor lifestyle choices are responsible for more than 80% of all health issues.

Solution: Poor lifestyle choices should be taxed - those whose poor choices drive up the cost of health care should be responsible for those extra costs. Increased taxes on products such as tobacco and alcohol should be put into a fund specifically designed to subsidize health care, or to help offset the cost of any exercise equipment,  athletic gear, or gym membership to encourage exercise. Unhealthy foods and drinks should be taxed and the money collected used specifically to reduce the cost of healthier, natural choices which are currently too expensive for many, which contributes to unhealthy choices. In this way, those responsible for higher health care costs would be paying for it, keeping costs down.

The actual health CARE, and not health INSURANCE is what the government should be subsidizing.

So why don't those in the Democrat leadership want to make these simple changes to improve health care and reduce its cost? Because that is not what they want - they want government to CONTROL health care. They understand that if they control your health care, they control YOU.

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