(Source: Carrie S.)How should the US healthcare system be reformed?
Which of these solutions seems that it would work the best?
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Possible Solutions for the US Health Care System
Here is a discussion from Stanford Medicine Magazine with different experts weighing in on how they would fix the US health care system. Here is a question from Carrie:
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3 comments:
This is a heated topic that can quickly turn into a partisan debate. I read through all of the solutions and this is what I thought about the policy experts. I do not agree with what Fuchs says. With cheaper health care, there will be fewer good doctors. HMOs have already cut back on the number of specialists and I beleive that this socialized health care could extend this problem. I like Bhattacharya’s solution to the problem. He has a point that insurance premiums go up when some sickness breaks out, but I think a long term contract could jeopardize the insurance provider's future. Wise is correct when he classifies this insurance as a different than other types of insurance we deal with. He also makes a good point that "the impulse to reduce costs can undermine ... access to the type and level of care that best meets a patient’s needs." I think that Enthoven’s solution is the best. It has been tested in a small environment, and it seems to work well. Garber does not offer a true solution, but he does have a point when he says, "no reform effort will succeed without public acceptance and support."
-Brian Meier
In my opinion, health care is becoming too socialized in the US. I disagree with Fuchs, publically funded social insurance is not going to solve any of the health care problems. In the long run, it is only going to make problems worse. Today, the easiest way to obtain health insurance is through your employment; however, for people who are self-employed, are starting their own small business, are unemployed, or have a job that doesn't offer health care benefits, good health insurance is hard to afford, especially for families. Health care is not a right; it is an individual's responsibility to provide for their health care needs. I agree with Wise in that "health care is now widely considered a public good but is being administered as if it were a private commodity." This results in inefficiencies particularly for patients, and has led to the problem of increasing costs and decreasing access to care. Also, Medicaid, like social security, needs to be done away with or payments to individuals need to be decreased. This would encourage more people to save their money during their life time and not depend on the government to provide for them. I think that health insurance should not be neccessary to get basic health care. People should be able to pay for their own basic health care and not have to go through a health insurance company. Health care programs should only be offered for the people who really need them-not the poor-but people who have serious injuries or illnesses. If people had to start paying for their own medicines, I think a lot more people would be taking a lot less drugs. Today almost everyone is being diagnosed with this or that, and they are given some drug, which they don't really need to fix the problem. However, since that idea is highly unrealistic, I like Enthoven's idea of increasing competition in the health care market.
oops ^^ that ones from Emily Spurlock
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