I admit it: I’m no expert on health care. I am not a doctor, I haven’t been to nursing school, I’m not a hospital administrator and I don’t work for an insurance company.
So, that means I’m probably just as qualified as the guys and girls in Washington to offer an opinion.
I’ll tell you why I can offer input. For the past three months, I’ve spent many hours as an observer of “the system.” I’ve been in the emergency department four times in the past three months. Tip: Go at about 4 a.m. during the week. The wait time is pretty short. The problem is getting admitted to the hospital, however. That might take some doing.
I’ve spent countless hours acting as a patent advocate for my father-in-law, who usually won’t say much unless you won’t put the Phillies game on. Then, you’ll get some feedback.
I’ve spent time with him in a rehabilitation facility. I know about various forms of physical therapy and how to ask questions about the process.
Now, I’ve spent about the past six weeks or so watching life in a nursing home, where I hope he doesn’t have to stay much longer.
So, with all my experience, both from this slog through the halls of medicine and beyond, I have some ideas.
Contain costs through communication. Have you ever told the same story 2,000 times to 2,000 people? No? Well, then, go to the hospital. Every time your loved one journeys to another part of the building, be prepared to explain what medications they take, what challenges they face, what amount of pain they’re in and what your name and phone number are. Even under these conditions, don’t be surprised when the information you’ve given goes down the memory hole. Be patient. Explain again. And again.
I was convinced that electronic medical records were a good idea, because maybe then you could cut back on the redundancy involved in explaining things over and over. “We don’t have time to read them,” I was told by one exasperated medical professional. I believe time is money, and lots of time could be saved by a more streamlined system. I see a lot of people taking little hand written notes on little pieces of paper. Where do they go?
Tort reform is more than just an end to frivolous lawsuits. Hospital testing is pretty extensive. Once you pass the test to get admitted, the cost of finding out what’s wrong with you is astonishing. You may glow at the end of the week from hanging out in the MRI tube or getting a billion x-rays. At the end of the day, there are pages and pages of tests that I believe must be done in this litigious society in order to stave off a team of lawyers. Nurses, I am told, spend hours writing notes that get whisked off to some repository. That way, a deposition can be taken in the future if a lawsuit comes about. The nurses, doctors and assorted medical staff are playing “defensive” medicine. They are concerned about not doing everything possible, even if they over compensate. I understand their paranoia, so something must be done to make this more of a common sense dynamic, which will save time and resources.
Rewards for good patients. Everyone loves refunds, rebates, free dinners and movie tickets. I know because I do something our lawmakers don’t: I work in radio. So, why not reward patients who don’t use their health insurance very much during the course of the year with a little trinket? This might encourage those who don’t get insurance because they’re in good shape to get insurance, thus lowering the number of those without insurance. People love free stuff, so trick them into getting some.
Have a “cat” fund for the uninsured in case they’re seriously hurt. If most people go into bankruptcy because of a devastating illness or accident, don’t reinvent the wheel by changing the delivery system. Have a pool, paid into by insurance companies, to pay for catastrophic loss. However, you would only be able to collect if you had some kind of insurance, even something with a high deductible.
Medical spending account expansion/rollover. We have accounts at work that you can contribute to in a pre-tax way. For instance, you put $25 per check into the account. You receive a debit card that can be for prescriptions, co pays, bandages, cough medicine and the like. The only drawback is you have to blow the money out at the end of the year on stuff if you have money left over. Why not allow Americans to do this, pre-tax, and roll it over? That way, if they have an unexpected expense, they will have some money to pay for it? If they have it later in life, they can use it for nursing home costs, etc. Older people use the system more and this would give them an opportunity for a cushion in case of emergency.
Competition. The auto insurance industry has exploded in the past decade or so. When I was a kid, you went to the insurance man down the block for a policy. Now, you may never see the person who writes your policy. Blue Cross has been under the microscope for stifling competition. Let’s unchain the surly bonds of this monopoly and let ‘er rip.
Address the 45 million who don’t have insurance while leaving the rest of us alone. The numbers on this are murky. If you subtract those who don’t deserve insurance because they’re in the country illegally, those who don’t want insurance and those between jobs, I understand the pool is much smaller. Don’t rip the engine out of the car when you need a fan belt, if you know what I’m saying. Or, as my mother used to say, “Little bites and lots of chewing.”
Corbett
E-Mail
Print
