Good day, family and friends!
In my past six Healthcare posts, I have been looking at the costs associated with the best healthcare system in the world. Here's what I've discovered:
> It is very expensive to get the best medical training in the world and to develop, learn, acquire, and maintain modern state-of-the-art medical technologies. Doctors start their careers as much as $800K in debt before they ever see a patient;
> While there are clear-cut cases of greed in the insurance industry and instances where profit is placed ahead of the needs of the customers (patients), these cases are in the minority and most insurance providers are struggling to stay afloat. The average profit of the 1300+ insurance providers in 2008 was only 2.2%;
> The abrogation of the Principle of Personal Responsibility from our legal system and the accompanying environment of rampant litigation account for between 19% and 27% of the cost of healthcare every year through increased malpractice insurance premiums;
> The cost of the bureaucracy created to monitor the rules and manage the paperwork of the various healthcare insurance offerings account for between 14% and 32% of the cost of healthcare every year;
> Insurance Fraud perpetrated by both patients and physicians account for between 3% and 10% of the cost of healthcare every year. This has resulted in insurance companies creating "Benefits Coverage Panels" made up of non-medical personnel making medical decisions;
> And the betrayal of trust perpetrated by our elected officials who bow to special interest pressure to create laws and regulations designed to block the normal competition of the free market economy.
These six bullet points pretty much summarize the economic challenges to making healthcare in America more affordable. Just addressing real tort reform, policy and document simplification, and seriously hammering those who intentionally commit insurance fraud could reduce healthcare costs by close to half.
Next time, I'll start in on why the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Healthcare Reform Act is most definitely NOT the answer, then I will propose my own solutions. After all, identifying a problem without offering solutions is just bellyaching.
Until then, best regards...
© James P. Rice 2010
