Medicare can be revised to give healthcare coverage to all. I have read HR676 and SB840 and have some problems with both. This is a simple, scalable, fundable proposal that can be incrementally implemented. In this way it will not overburden the patients, providers, the current infrastructure, or the government. Other plans are aggressive and would give universal coverage, but either use too much of, or scrap entirely, the private sector. I want cost effective universal coverage that still motivates providers to work hard and to take care of as many patients as they can. We cannot afford to "de-motivate"- the participants. I would love critical feedback. Please comment.
A Plan for Universal HealthCare
Bullet Points
First Step:
1. Start with the basic Medicare plan as it exists today. 2. Issue a unique ID number to each patient. Not to use the current social security number. 3. Include drug coverage for common medications. Pay a fixed price for a given class of drugs, regardless of which drug in that class is prescribed. 4. Construct a Medicare sponsored supplement plan and offer it to all traditional Medicare clients. 5. Re-evaluate Medicare's computer and manpower infrastructure and enhance it as needed. 6. Dissolve the Medicare "Advantage" Plans and re-enroll those clients into the Enhanced Medicare Plan as above. 7. Take the monies currently ear-marked for the Medicare Advantage Plans and infuse them into the Enhanced Medicare Plan above. 8. Re-evaluate the infrastructure and correct as needed.
Medicare would now be a decent insurance product for its current clients.
Second Step:
1. Enroll people 0 through 17 years old into this Enhanced Medicare Plan. This age group is covered by a hodgepodge of private insurance plans as well as a multitude of governmental agencies. 2. Examine the sources of monies currently used to pay for this age segments' health care and, as appropriate, roll those monies into the new plan. This would include premium payments from parents and guardians. 3. Re-evaluate the infrastructure and enhance as needed.
The two extremes of age would now be covered.
Third Step:
1. As seems feasible at that time, begin enrolling the rest of America in the Enhanced Medicare Plan starting with the upper ages first and working backward, as infrastructure allows, till all Americans are covered. 2. As each age group is enrolled, begin collecting premium payments from them, much in the same way as they pay now. 3. Periodically the infrastructure would have to be expanded aggressively.
All Americans would now be covered by an insurance plan. Any care issues could be monitored. Tracking of fraud, abuse, waste, and medical errors would then be possible. Details to follow tomorrow.
I am an average person who happens to be very concerned about the state of health care delivery in the United States. So many politicians and other persons of interest spread so much misinformation about reform, the only way to make it happen is to (more...)
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Your ideas are a welcome relief from the litany of insurance company rhetoric to the contrary. Isn't the simpler idea to make gov't. the single payer, follow dollars with computer scrutiny, and simply make health care a universal right?
by
martinweiss (41 articles, 6 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 503 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 at 7:45:29 PM
Reply: Voter Education and Involvment In Healthcare Reform
Dear MartinWeiss,Thank you for your comment and your interest.Reform will have to be a grass roots affair. Any effort you can make in helping to disseminate this concept, will help us move toward reform.We need to get a functional bill in front of congress and force them, by the power of the common voter, to do what needs to be done. Please help.
Most Sincerely,
Mark Green
OurHealthReform.com
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Mark Green (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 35 comments) on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 at 9:40:59 PM
Comment from Ratings: How much does it cost, and who will pay for it? Medicare is plagued by uncontrolled fraud and abuse. How does this "new" plan address these issues?
Before you heap on all kinds of new unfunded benefits, perhaps the problems with the existing Medicare need to be addressed!
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John Frykman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Thursday, Sep 4, 2008 at 5:37:39 AM
Thank you for your message and interest in healthcare reform.The Medicare program is fairly sound, but the Medicare system is uncontrolled in costs and is laden with overspending and abuse.Most of that problem stems from not being able to collect enough information, in real time across the multitude of private information systems involved, to allow discovery and tracking of the problems.A single payer and information system would eliminate or severely reduce these financial issues.
We are already spending enough money annually to pay for most of a universal Enhanced Medicare plan.As stated on my web site, much of the money is sequestered in insurance company profits, legal fees, medical wastes, mismanagement, fraud, overbilling, and paying for thousands redundancies across the system just to name a few.A single payer using one information system and the elimination of the “for profit” healthcare industries could recapture most of the money we need.
The current monies coming in would have to continue, though individual contributions would be far less than they are now, and would have to be made affordable and downward scalable for income and situation. I do not feel universal care can be paid for entirely out of tax monies without a huge tax increase. Americans are used to having a level of personal responsibility and, if reasonable, they would take it in stride.
I agree one must start with a functional Medicare program offering a suitable and complete product.That is step one of the current idea as described on the web site. The rest is to incrementally expand it until all are covered. At each step we would wait until infrastructure and funding caught up before progressing.The whole process could take 5-10 years; though I fell it could be done in less time.
Mr. Frykman, please help with any criticism that will help us, we average voters, to write a suitable bill, get it before congress and to force them to pass it under threat of the ballot box. Respectfully,
Mark Green
OurHealthReform.com
7Sept2008
by
Mark Green (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 35 comments) on Sunday, Sep 7, 2008 at 6:17:29 PM
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