Economics of Chaos
The Chaos In Healthcare.
Debate is now raging throughout America about our healthcare and medical insurance systems. The Obama Administration and the Congress are expected to propose legislative and policy reforms that will greatly expand and change the role of government in the healthcare arena. These sectors of our economy are huge; estimated to be 1/6 or almost 17% of the American economy.
There is a consensus that chaos exists in the areas of healthcare and health insurance but it is a peculiar chaos. By many measures these sectors are doing very well; almost 85% of Americans are covered by some kind of health insurance and the actual delivery of health care to patients throughout the United States for the most part is effective and far reaching.
Less than 5% of the population who want to get insurance are unable to obtain it. The very poor and uninsured are mandated care by law through emergency room facilities. Compare this reality to some other American institutions: education, our prison system and marriage.* In all of these other American endeavors the failure rate is much higher.
So from a detached perspective; our healthcare chaos is really political in nature. Admittedly, there are gaps, inequalities and financial pressures that are out of whack. The fact that many times these issues transcend the normal problems of life and become life and death issues cannot be forgotten or dismissed. Even with that understanding in place, we cannot forget that overall our healthcare, although non-universal and varied is very good.
In summary, we are a capitalist run society; that is our strong suit. However, unbridled, corrupt and totally unregulated (But ironically not very competitive) corporate entities in the medical and insurance fields need to be reigned in and reformed. We are also a fair people and we do not want the poor to suffer. The steps outlined here if enacted into law and practice will enable us to continue to have one of the very finest healthcare systems in the world while making it more inclusive for all our citizens.
Primarily, It is important to understand that our system is flawed not failed.
Why is there CHAOS in Healthcare?
There are three main reasons.
Lack of Competition
Lack of sensible regulation
External forces, such as rampant malpractice insurance costs and politics.
In future posts, we will address these factors one at a time.
James McDonough
Manhatten, Kansas
August, 2009
Debate is now raging throughout America about our healthcare and medical insurance systems. The Obama Administration and the Congress are expected to propose legislative and policy reforms that will greatly expand and change the role of government in the healthcare arena. These sectors of our economy are huge; estimated to be 1/6 or almost 17% of the American economy.
There is a consensus that chaos exists in the areas of healthcare and health insurance but it is a peculiar chaos. By many measures these sectors are doing very well; almost 85% of Americans are covered by some kind of health insurance and the actual delivery of health care to patients throughout the United States for the most part is effective and far reaching.
Less than 5% of the population who want to get insurance are unable to obtain it. The very poor and uninsured are mandated care by law through emergency room facilities. Compare this reality to some other American institutions: education, our prison system and marriage.* In all of these other American endeavors the failure rate is much higher.
So from a detached perspective; our healthcare chaos is really political in nature. Admittedly, there are gaps, inequalities and financial pressures that are out of whack. The fact that many times these issues transcend the normal problems of life and become life and death issues cannot be forgotten or dismissed. Even with that understanding in place, we cannot forget that overall our healthcare, although non-universal and varied is very good.
In summary, we are a capitalist run society; that is our strong suit. However, unbridled, corrupt and totally unregulated (But ironically not very competitive) corporate entities in the medical and insurance fields need to be reigned in and reformed. We are also a fair people and we do not want the poor to suffer. The steps outlined here if enacted into law and practice will enable us to continue to have one of the very finest healthcare systems in the world while making it more inclusive for all our citizens.
Primarily, It is important to understand that our system is flawed not failed.
Why is there CHAOS in Healthcare?
There are three main reasons.
Lack of Competition
Lack of sensible regulation
External forces, such as rampant malpractice insurance costs and politics.
In future posts, we will address these factors one at a time.
James McDonough
Manhatten, Kansas
August, 2009
Good to see you are still alive and kicking. Interestingly, I used to live down the road in Lenexa (Johnson County) many years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf I was Obama, I'd put you in charge. Run the health care system on half cash and half barter. :-) Doctors would get $500 and a Finn MacCool CD for doing a simple procedure. For more complicated tasks, they'd get a gift pack from the Import shop as well. :-)
Glad to see your writing again I'm proud of you pop love ya
ReplyDelete~Mark