Do we need universal healthcare? part 2

Disclaimer: I just reread this post after a night of sleep and I've got to say this is quite possibly the worst post I have ever made. The grammar is difficult to read. The arguments are not really arguments at all. There is no flow to the post. I may try to improve on my views at some point in the future, but that time is not now. So, read at your own peril.

Anyone who thinks government healthcare is a slam dunk needs spend a little more time looking at medicare and medicaid (that means you Hillary). Why are there so many doctors in this country that don't accept medicare patients? Many physicians who do see medicare patients stop accepting new medicare patients when they build their practice up to a satisfactory level. The rules and regulations required by medicare are as bad as the tax code and the reimbursement is laughable at times.

Like it or not America is a country of capitalism (though we'll see what happens when President Obama is calling the shots), and health insurance is big business. There's no way the government can scrap the current system. Shareholders of these giant companies wouldn't allow it. If it were to somehow come to pass the problems with a government run system are not limited to the exorbitant cost to the American taxpayer. Government run healthcare is like anything else that is run by the government; slow, inefficient, and costly.

The truth is that America currently has the best healthcare system in the world. Can it be improved? Sure. Are there too many uninsured people in this country? Absolutely. Is that the government's problem? I don't know. When did personal accountability become a thing of the past? I don't recall reading about the founding fathers speaking of the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as long as the government can provide healthcare for all citizens.

I think the healthcare system in America could be restructured to make it more affordable for everyone, but I'm not sure we can come together to make the necessary changes. The truth is that lawmakers can affect the cost of healthcare. Tort reform can cut down on malpractice costs, which affect more than the physicians paying for malpractice insurance. Our president could have pushed to give medicare the right to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for medications the way they are allowed to negotiate with physicians for everything else (reimburse amounts are more of a decree than a negotiation). Medicare could revamp the current reimbursement system using some system of order that makes sense rather than the current system where new procedures are billed based on whatever the physician decides he should be paid.

If you can tell me why physician reimbursement for an emergency appendectomy by medicare at about $600, while the cost to an uninsured patient is closer to 3 grand you are well on your way to understanding the problems with medicare. On the note of reimbursement, I have yet to find anyone who understands why that emergency procedure only nets the physician $600 while a spinal surgeon can fuse a few vertebra and bill several thousand dollars. Sure some of that is the increased malpractice for neurosurgeons, but seriously.

I think we need a better system and while I don't have a solution but I do have some ideas. I think there should be a significant healthcare tax placed on cigarettes. The amount of medical conditions that are caused by smoking is astounding. I think gym memberships should be medicare-tax deductible. I think adults should be required by law to have catastrophic health insurance much like they are required to have auto insurance. I think that if the insurance industry and the government decide to pay physicians and hospitals based on the success of their interventions (pay for performance) they should also charge the insured if they fail to adhere to the medical plan agreed to by the patient and the healthcare team. I think the general public needs to be informed of the cost of keeping a loved one alive on life support at the end of life, and insurance companies need to do a better job of covering the grief support for those people who are making the decisions at the end of life.

I've got other thoughts that will most likely be shared in a future post but I've rambled on too long tonight (and the Dodgers just won game 3 so I'm going to bed now).