Use Competition to Make the System More Efficient
The main problem with the healthcare system is that costs keepgoing up. All the other problems inthe health care system stem fromthis and won't be solved until wegive everyone real choices andthe ability to take responsibility forwhat they spend on care. Thatmeans reducing regulation andusing free market competition toallow insurers to offer a widerrange of plans. We should alsoembrace managed care, whichwatches expenses carefully andhas already slowed down theincrease in health care costs. Bymoving further in the direction ofmanaged care, and adoptingmedical savings accounts, whichencourage individuals to saveand shop around for health care,well be able to bring down costsand cover more people.
What Should be Done?
Encourage more employers toprovide coverage through HMOsand other forms of managed careto ensure competition. Encourage small businesses tojoin together in insurance pools tonegotiate for better rates. Give patients more ways to payfor care, such as tax-free medicalsavings accounts that can beused for premiums, co-paymentsand deductibles. Encourage the use of lower-costgeneric drugs and allow people tobuy approved drugs from Canadaand Europe. Charge patients moreif they insist on brand-name drugs.Allow private insurers to createbasic policies that would coverthe most common problems andmake coverage affordable forsmall businesses and individuals.
Arguments For This Approach
If the health care systembecomes more efficient, we canprovide more services for morepeople, without spending moremoney. The constant rise in health carecosts hurts everybody it makesthose with insurance pay moreand it makes insurance tooexpensive for low-income people.The only way to control costs isfor insurers, health care professionalsand patients to make decisionsabout what they really want andneed. That means empoweringpatients to set aside money taxfreefor medical care and allowingthem to seek out cheaper alternatives,like drugs from other countries. HMOs and other forms ofmanaged care control costs byrelying on competition, ratherthan heavy-handed governmentprograms.
Arguments Against This Approach
This approach will do little toexpand health care to the millionsof Americans who dont haveinsurance.This will mean patients will haveto face a lot more red tape andmay even be turned down fortreatment an insurance companydecides is too expensive. Under managed care, decisionsabout treatment are often madebased on whats the cheapesttreatment, not necessarily thebest one.The real reason health carecosts are going up is because ofnew, expensive treatments andthat the population is gettingolder.This will require people to make critical, complicated choices when they're sick and at their most vulnerable.
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Comments
healthcare doesn't need reform; it's fine just the way it is.
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