Unintended Consequences of Universal Health Care, Universal Health Care Bill, Health Care
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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
July 22, 2009
Summer Schedule
A Special Edition Will Be Published This Coming Weekend.
Today’s Zinger:
Unintended Consequences Are The Harsh Realities Of A Simple Approach To A Complex Problem
The Morning Briefing:
The United States has the best health care in the world. How many times have you heard this phrase? The vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their health care. Some form of health care insurance covers almost 90% of Americans. Over 70% of those are fully satisfied with their health care. As the Obama administration takes on the health care agenda, many Americans ask the question, “Why are we undertaking a radical reengineering of our health care system and why does it have to be done so quickly?”
The Obama administration has set a simple principle for health care reform; "make health care available to all Americans and tax the rich to pay for it”. The majority of Americans support health care reform. Americans support reform but not in the way the administration has crafted the current health care bill.
This weeks Zinger looks at the American health care system and how the proposed health care legislation will have severe unintended consequences on most Americans.
The Facts:
The Discussion:
The quality of health care in the United States is often referred to as the best. The question becomes what does it mean to be the best. To most Americans, the advanced technologies of CT scans, MRI’s, internal medical cameras in a pill, Gamma knife, implantable defibrillators, Da Vinci robotic surgery, chemotherapy, advanced pharmaceuticals and artificial joints lead us to the believe that American medicine is the best in the world.
But the truth is that the United States lags or is on par with most industrialized countries in medical outcomes. Death rates for infants, treatment of chronically ill adults, life expectancy is lower in the United States than many other industrialized nations. So why do we cling to the notion that our health care is the best? I believe there are two reasons.
1) Technology
2) Access
The technology is amazing. If you have ever seen an MRI or watched a camera in a pill pass through your body sending high definition images to the monitor or a gamma knife remove a brain tumor without “surgery” you will believe that these are medical miracles that save lives. If you have taken medicines that reduce your blood pressure or destroy cancer cells in your body you understand how advanced pharmaceuticals have improved and saved lives as well.
Today’s advanced medicine has improved recovery rates and made it easier to manage medical problems (fewer pills, less reaction, faster recovery) than previous treatments. These advances have come at a high price. The cost of medical care is taking an ever bigger bite out of our personal budgets and our country’s economy.
Access to these medical technologies is far easier in the United States than most any other country in the world. If you have insurance, you can be treated with some of the most sophisticated techniques. It is this ease of access and availability of advanced technology that makes most Americans say we have the best health care in the world, and they are correct in this regard. So what are the problems with our health care system that cause us to rank so low versus other countries?
1) Affordability
2) Coverage - who is covered and what is covered
3) Coordination
Not all Americans have the same access and not all medical treatments provide significant improvement over past practices. In today’s medical world of high costs and high write-offs, most providers are cautious to use the most expensive techniques when there are other techniques that may provide adequate care. Low income individuals, or individuals without adequate health insurance, are often steered toward less costly procedures. These procedures may provide good care, but at a much lower cost.
Even though most hospitals will not turn away patients that need treatment, many low to middle income individuals will not seek treatment if they do not have health care insurance for fear of crippling debt. This is unfortunate since many individuals without a (known) source of income often seek treatment knowing that they will not be held responsible for the debt, this of course drives up costs for everyone.
For those that can take advantage of all that our health care system has to offer, coordination of care across providers is a significant problem. Lack of coordinated care results in higher costs, duplicate services and poor medical outcomes.
The Obama administration’s universal health care bill will provide health care access to all Americans as well as undocumented aliens. Universal access will immediately cause a spike in health care cost, as everyone will assume to have equal access to all technology and all treatment options. The only way to prevent this is to ration care.
The Conclusion:
Is it heartless to say that not everyone deserves (or can afford) the same health care? Is it to too capitalistic to say that striving for a better life may include striving for better quality of health care? Is it too soft hearted to say that we are one of the richest countries in the world and should therefore provide health care to everyone in this country? If everyone deserves health care does that mean we all deserve the same health care?
The unintended consequence of passing the universal health care bill is the majority of Americans that are satisfied with their health care will have to reduce their health care costs in order to allow for new participants to have greater access. Without a reduction in health care spending, new participants could drive health care costs to an even greater percentage of GDP. Therefore, universal health care is not just a tax on Americans, it will surely lead to a change in the technologies and treatments available and the access to these technologies and treatments. It will most likely lead to a slowing of medical innovation since it is the higher profits on new technology that pays for the development of emerging medical technology.
The American education system started with simple principles. Everyone should be included and everyone should have the same opportunities. This all sounds good but there are unintended consequences. America's education system has seen a drop in test scores, higher drop out rates, increased safety issues in our schools, an influx of illegal immigrants taking advantage of our system and a flight to private education for those that can afford it.
Just think, universal health care is starting with a simple principle, everyone should be covered and the rich should pay. Simple thinking yields unintended consequences. Hopefully Congress will take the time to think through universal health care before rushing to approve it. It is a complex issue that requires considerable vetting.
A special edition of ZingerKing will be published this weekend. There is so much news that needs to be commented on that I couldn't let these stories pass without a good Zing.
Zinger
Have you Zinged someone lately? Please forward a link to a friend, family member or neighbor.
ZingerKing is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week from September through June. In July and August ZingerKing will publish on Wednesday each week.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
July 22, 2009
Summer Schedule
A Special Edition Will Be Published This Coming Weekend.
Today’s Zinger:
Unintended Consequences Are The Harsh Realities Of A Simple Approach To A Complex Problem
The Morning Briefing:
The United States has the best health care in the world. How many times have you heard this phrase? The vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their health care. Some form of health care insurance covers almost 90% of Americans. Over 70% of those are fully satisfied with their health care. As the Obama administration takes on the health care agenda, many Americans ask the question, “Why are we undertaking a radical reengineering of our health care system and why does it have to be done so quickly?”
The Obama administration has set a simple principle for health care reform; "make health care available to all Americans and tax the rich to pay for it”. The majority of Americans support health care reform. Americans support reform but not in the way the administration has crafted the current health care bill.
This weeks Zinger looks at the American health care system and how the proposed health care legislation will have severe unintended consequences on most Americans.
The Facts:
- America spends 16 cents of every dollar on health care. The United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation.
- According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the United States ranks 37th out of 191 countries studied in performance of its health care system.
- The World Fact book estimates the infant mortality rate in the United States is now comparable to Croatia, Lithuania and Taiwan. Most analysts currently rank the United States 28th in the world in infant mortality, far behind other industrialized nations such as Sweden, France, Japan and Germany.
- The Commonwealth Fund's study of chronically ill adults across industrialized nations indicated that overall, the United States stands out for chronically ill adults reporting the most negative experiences.
The Discussion:
The quality of health care in the United States is often referred to as the best. The question becomes what does it mean to be the best. To most Americans, the advanced technologies of CT scans, MRI’s, internal medical cameras in a pill, Gamma knife, implantable defibrillators, Da Vinci robotic surgery, chemotherapy, advanced pharmaceuticals and artificial joints lead us to the believe that American medicine is the best in the world.
But the truth is that the United States lags or is on par with most industrialized countries in medical outcomes. Death rates for infants, treatment of chronically ill adults, life expectancy is lower in the United States than many other industrialized nations. So why do we cling to the notion that our health care is the best? I believe there are two reasons.
1) Technology
2) Access
The technology is amazing. If you have ever seen an MRI or watched a camera in a pill pass through your body sending high definition images to the monitor or a gamma knife remove a brain tumor without “surgery” you will believe that these are medical miracles that save lives. If you have taken medicines that reduce your blood pressure or destroy cancer cells in your body you understand how advanced pharmaceuticals have improved and saved lives as well.
Today’s advanced medicine has improved recovery rates and made it easier to manage medical problems (fewer pills, less reaction, faster recovery) than previous treatments. These advances have come at a high price. The cost of medical care is taking an ever bigger bite out of our personal budgets and our country’s economy.
Access to these medical technologies is far easier in the United States than most any other country in the world. If you have insurance, you can be treated with some of the most sophisticated techniques. It is this ease of access and availability of advanced technology that makes most Americans say we have the best health care in the world, and they are correct in this regard. So what are the problems with our health care system that cause us to rank so low versus other countries?
1) Affordability
2) Coverage - who is covered and what is covered
3) Coordination
Not all Americans have the same access and not all medical treatments provide significant improvement over past practices. In today’s medical world of high costs and high write-offs, most providers are cautious to use the most expensive techniques when there are other techniques that may provide adequate care. Low income individuals, or individuals without adequate health insurance, are often steered toward less costly procedures. These procedures may provide good care, but at a much lower cost.
Even though most hospitals will not turn away patients that need treatment, many low to middle income individuals will not seek treatment if they do not have health care insurance for fear of crippling debt. This is unfortunate since many individuals without a (known) source of income often seek treatment knowing that they will not be held responsible for the debt, this of course drives up costs for everyone.
For those that can take advantage of all that our health care system has to offer, coordination of care across providers is a significant problem. Lack of coordinated care results in higher costs, duplicate services and poor medical outcomes.
The Obama administration’s universal health care bill will provide health care access to all Americans as well as undocumented aliens. Universal access will immediately cause a spike in health care cost, as everyone will assume to have equal access to all technology and all treatment options. The only way to prevent this is to ration care.
The Conclusion:
Is it heartless to say that not everyone deserves (or can afford) the same health care? Is it to too capitalistic to say that striving for a better life may include striving for better quality of health care? Is it too soft hearted to say that we are one of the richest countries in the world and should therefore provide health care to everyone in this country? If everyone deserves health care does that mean we all deserve the same health care?
The unintended consequence of passing the universal health care bill is the majority of Americans that are satisfied with their health care will have to reduce their health care costs in order to allow for new participants to have greater access. Without a reduction in health care spending, new participants could drive health care costs to an even greater percentage of GDP. Therefore, universal health care is not just a tax on Americans, it will surely lead to a change in the technologies and treatments available and the access to these technologies and treatments. It will most likely lead to a slowing of medical innovation since it is the higher profits on new technology that pays for the development of emerging medical technology.
The American education system started with simple principles. Everyone should be included and everyone should have the same opportunities. This all sounds good but there are unintended consequences. America's education system has seen a drop in test scores, higher drop out rates, increased safety issues in our schools, an influx of illegal immigrants taking advantage of our system and a flight to private education for those that can afford it.
Just think, universal health care is starting with a simple principle, everyone should be covered and the rich should pay. Simple thinking yields unintended consequences. Hopefully Congress will take the time to think through universal health care before rushing to approve it. It is a complex issue that requires considerable vetting.
A special edition of ZingerKing will be published this weekend. There is so much news that needs to be commented on that I couldn't let these stories pass without a good Zing.
Zinger
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