Thoughts on Healthcare

Our healthcare system is fundamentally broken. The market is dictated by insurance companies, a middleman which neither provides service nor contributes currency. The nature of insurance is to increase costs to both medical facilities and consumers while denying payment for services as much as possible, in order to maximize profit for themselves.

I propose we switch to a new system, a relatively simple one. Rather than sending millions on coding and billing and negotiating different rates in different places for different insurances, let’s instead switch to a completely different model, a modified private-pay system. A direct flow of currency between patients and healthcare providers. Patients pay for services provided, healthcare providers set their rates, and there is no longer a ballooning, profit-seeking leech between them.

I further propose a healthcare stipend, awarded to each citizen, of perhaps $500 per month. A sort of standardized, national HSA. Citizens pay directly for their healthcare, keep the receipts, and at the end of the year those funds not used are returned to the general national fund. The general fund at base could start at $500 billion, with each year’s unused funds adding to the amount. Those citizens with healthcare expenditures greater than the standard payout submit a simple application to receive an increased payout from the general fund. There would be no such thing as a 'pre-existing condition,' only diagnoses which merit additional funding.

The current Medicaid/Medicare system could handle the paperwork and payouts. With a much less complicated billing system, most of which is handled at an individual level, it would decrease administrative costs. I estimate the cost for this system at about $2.5 - 3 trillion (includes the base payout amount per person, the startup of the general fund, and potential administrative costs). This is less than current national healthcare spending of approximately $3.5 trillion, and far more effective. Further, freeing up the market for healthcare providers and patients is likely to decrease the costs of services, most of which have ballooned in our current system. My proposal would return the power over costs of healthcare to individual providers and patients … where it belongs.

And that’s it. Simple enough.





**edit** After further thought, I'd amend this idea to have a lump payment at the beginning of the year of $6,000, rather than a monthly payment, to reduce a backlog of procedures at the end of the year.