We’ve reached the season when companies start lining up employee health care coverage for the following year.
Like prior years, companies will complain about skyrocketing
costs and workers will complain about getting fewer benefits. Study after study suggests both parties will
be right. Americans pay a lot and get little.
If the ongoing conflict and gridlock we’ve experienced is any indication, the problem won’t be solved for a long
time.
Have things gotten so bad that
it’s time to consider a commission similar to the ones that helped lawmakers decide which military
bases to close?
The commissions are
stocked with knowledgeable people from across a spectrum of backgrounds and political persuasions. They
return with recommendations, and Congress then is obligated to vote the recommendations up or down.
Because Congress can’t tinker with the recommendations,
political influence over sacred cows is minimized and lawmakers who want action but fear casting a vote
are offered cover (“Some specifics were flawed, but the overall plan was so well thought out that
I voted for it.”).
Commissions
have helped the country get through hard decisions on which bases no longer were needed. Could such a commission
help fix health care?








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Naturally, the customer wants the insurance company to pay for these tests, all of them, whether really necessary or not. We have great tools, but, folks, this all comes at a great cost.
The insurance companies are at a huge disadvantage, because remember they are trying to make a profit. So, consequently we're seeing price increases of around 15% each year. Does it make sense, then, that the medical providers would continue to build these high end facilities? Look at St. Francis new south campus as a great example. Who will pay for all of this?
The customer wants the insurance companies to pay. Any they will, but only by increasing the rates to the customer by 15% a year. How is a commission going to stop this runaway train?
The answer is that Americans must be willing to change their habits:
1. Quit eating anything you want anytime you want. LOSE WEIGHT.
2. Make healthier choices of what you eat.
3. EXERCISE should be mandatory for participating in the health care system.
4. Take responsibility for your current health condition.
5. Don't take everything your doctor takes as the gospel, ask if that test is necessary, or what is the downside if you don't have it done?
6. Shop prices with doctors and health care providers. Perhaps you can get that test done somewhere else at a lower price.
7. Investigate alternative ways to heal yourself. For example, if you have kidney stones, do you have to have a $10,000 procedure to break them up or can you find optional treatment through using herbal options?
We all want the best and expect the best. We have the best health care in the world. But, it comes at a cost, too great a cost for most Americans. And unless we are will to make changes, individually, we can't expect things to change. This isn't the job of another government sponsored and funded commission.