Medical Economics

A bunch of people with health care don't think the government should intervene to fix the health care system. Most of these people work for insurance companies, HMOs, lobbyists, and lack both a soul and and real grasp of economics.

How much is your life worth to you? Enough to spend your money? Enough to spend mine? Everyone's life - and that of a loved one - has infinite value. Everyone thinks that they should be entitled to the best medical care and screw the cost.

And the current system tries to make a buck off every procedure. The problem is, that about 1/2 the cost of health care DOESN:T DELIVER ANY CARE AT ALL. Its administrative overhead, profit, accounting, medical records, insurance billing, waste, or outright fraud. And some of the rest - much less than you are led to believe, is spent charging you more to care for those who cant afford it, because we are human and there are laws that try to prevent allowing hospitals from allowing people to die on their doorstep from preventable causes.

The problem with this approach is that that a person's real value is measured in most part by his or her value to society. Wealth should have some privileges. But we shouldn't let people get sick because that comes back to haunt us like the plague. Exactly like the plague.

Here's a modest proposal:

The government pays for all care for kids until age 18 or age 21 if they are in college. After than, the government pays for basic care and drugs. Basic, cheap stuff - no frills, no transplants, nothing experimental. Old fashioned basic care. You walk in, get treated, and walk out. No paperwork, maybe a small copay just to discourage idiots from abusing the system and to leave a credit card trail to help the accountants out in figuring out reimbursement. Oh, and if you catch someone at fraud, its a mandatory year of public service for each count.

If you work, you can buy insurance that provides better coverage and madatorly pays you between jobs for up to 2 years - much like cobra. You can get additional coverage if you can afford it - let the free market take care of what it costs an what works. You can buy the coverage you think you deserve and can afford.

This cuts the waste out of the biggest part of the system and matches a persons value to what he or she contributes. Wealth should have its privilege.

Just a thought.