I have no doubt that this is a legitimate group; I'm sure there are many physicians who believe socialized medicine is the answer, just as there are many consumers who believe this.
The only problem with this line of thinking is, we know the outcome. Many nations that have socialized medicine are struggling to keep their cumbersome, bureaucracy laden systems afloat. History proves, over and over again, that when the goverment "takes over" anything, the results are always less than ideal, and always worse than consumer driven, free market approaches.
The interesting thing is, the places in the world where medicine is flourishing are unexpected places that have taken an almost entrepreneurial approach to healthcare. India, the Phillipines, and Thailand are among destinations where high quality healthcare with positive outcomes and risk levels comparable to the United States is available. For the price of a surgery in the United States, you can have the SAME procedure PLUS a vacation in an exotic locale. So why is healthcare so expensive in the United States, and why does the price continue to climb at a rate that outstrips inflation? Obviously, there are many places to point fingers, but one of the most glaring culprits is bureaucratic interference.
I work in the industry, so I am painfully aware of how much of a hospital, clinic, or physician office budget is spent on meeting instrusive government mandates. I'm not talking about things that lower morbidity or mortality, or improve outcomes, though certainly some positive mandates do exist. What I am talking about are the mandates that force uneccesarily expensive overhead including cumbersome record keeping, expensive data collection and management processes, hardware, and software, and uneccesarily burdensome and obscure regulatory compliance requirements.
The other major impact on healthcare cost in the United States (in my opinion) is, ironically, not "free market economics" but rather the opposite - a LACK of free markets.
Unlike other goods and services exchanged in a free market, Healthcare providers and insurance providers are somewhat limited in the following areas;
- What they can advertise.
- What they can charge for goods and services, and whether or not they publish prices.
- Where they can do business.
In addition, the healthcare system in the United States is currently choked by virtual consortiums practicing legal extortion in the areas of pharmaceutics, Insurance coverage, facilities, etc.
What I found surprising, when I tried to research this issue, is that there is a relative dearth of information supporting free market economics in healthcare today.
Yes Mr President a free market can fix health care
Envisioning a Free Market in Health Care
Free Market Fixes could still still save American Healthcare
Yes, Free Markets would Improve American Healthcare
A free Market Healthcare System Why and How
President elect Donal Trump has pledged to scrap Obamacare and move our Healthcare system back to a free market based model. There are plenty of expert opinions out there on how this could be done, each with some readily apparent benefits. All the president and his advisors would have to do is gather the research and make some intelligent decisions about how to open up the market.
My only concern with The Donald is, if the only voices at his table are Big Pharma, Big Healthcare, and Big Insurance, the end will almost certainly be worse than the present state.
No comments:
Post a Comment