Reply to "America's Health Care System"

I find Mike's post to be one of the more cogent and pragmatic posts I've recently read on the subject. All good observations and after such revelations my first response is let’s do something about it. I do scratch my head a bit when I hear people complain about the absence of healthcare for “x” million people in the US. My observation is exactly that which Mike points out. We pay for it one way or another anyway. We don’t seem to have the political will to pay more so why not get the inefficiency and waste out before we throw more money at it? That’s what we have to do in free market business, at least the ones that want to remain solvent. I’m not a health care professional but do manage businesses and the economics of healthcare is business. It would run better without the level government intervention by people that are more motivated by the politics than their understanding of healthcare and related economics. My observation is things get totally fouled up when authority and decision making gets to far removed from the point where the valued added part of business occurs. So we (US G) take the authority away from someone and then make them accountable for the result? Then let the lawyers work them over and then to make it worse, try to micromanage the piss out of the outcome?

-Makes absolutely no business sense me but it does to bureaucrats. IMO, this is what has happened with healthcare (and many other parts of government for that matter). The call to action is to create proper motivation, incentivization, and provide more control for the health care industry professionals such as Mike that are witnessing the fiasco first hand 80 hours a week. Mike, I have lots of friends that practice medicine. They are typically brilliant folks but not the greatest business people. They’re too busy learning and practicing their trade (and yes defending themselves) because that’s their passion. I think the “real” health care professionals are politically under represented and need to be more proactive in being part of the solution. The most obvious example to me is HMOs. They organized, told a good story (we’ll get cost out) and off they went. Problem is, they didn’t get cost out, they merely reached into the health care professionals pocket to make room for themselves. –Cost is still there with the politicos slamming more in. If the health pros were there first instead, the margin would likely still be in your and the taxpayers pocket instead of the insurers. Take control of your own destiny health care Pros. If you don't have the time or expertise to do it, hire it. In the long run, it would be cheaper than the financial enema you receive with the $22.5/hr malpractice insurance; that's simply appalling. I in no way mean to place blame with this statement, I just think it’s the solution.

BTW, I always resist these kind of posts too. Now the flaming may begin.

Kelly