Health Care
- Why do you say our health care system is broken?
Studies show we as country spend more on health care than most of the other developed countries per capita. We must examine the underlying causes of our high costs and identify changes that can eliminate them. There are more people processing health care claims in this country than there are doctors and nurses. 47 million Americans are currently without health care. These uninsured people are left with no alternative other than using our emergency rooms when they get sick which drives up the cost of providing care at the hospital and makes it more difficult for the hospital emergency room to provide quality service for those suffering true emergencies. Further, little preventative care is offered. Financially and medically this makes little sense. What we don't pay for today comes back to cost us ten fold in the future.
- How do you suggest fixing the health care system?
My impression is that we as a country have been talking about a universal health care system for decades with little or no progress made. Every time I hear of efforts being made it involves finding a single solution that everyone can agree on. I believe it is time to recognize that will not happen. I suggest we take a more pragmatic approach. We should design and implement 10 to 20 different regionally based plans throughout the country, letting each region define what it thinks would work best for itself. At the end of the "trial," say in three to four years of operation, we could actually see what is working and what isn't. We could also assess whether some regions, because of their demographic make-up, require different solutions. We could then make informed decisions to move this important issue forward.
I further propose that one of these trial regions should be right here in Albany. We already have a system and infrastructure that is in place, the VA Hospital, we should look into how it can be appropriately expanded to provide preventative medicine and urgent care to those who are without insurance.*
- Where do we get the doctors to staff all of these "clinics" you speak of?
The issue of needed doctors goes beyond just "clinics." We are in short supply of doctors in many fields of medicine. One in particular is geriatrics, as the population is aging we just don't have enough to go around. Others include general practitioners and pediatrics because they don't pay as well and when doctors leave medical school they have such a large debt burden they can not afford to take a low paying job and still make their loan payments. I suggest a government program that takes the heavy educational loan burden off of the backs of our young doctors and in exchange (for those doctors that wish to partake in this program) they pledge to work in "clinics' which are providing care to the needy, the uninsured and in rural areas to those where there are no facilities available today. The length of their service would be a function of their loan and perhaps the specialty they have chosen to practice.
- Don't we need to lower the cost of providing medical aid by eliminating the high price of doctor's mal-practice insurance?
It is our right as American citizens to seek appropriate legal action through the courts as the need arises. In the case of law suits brought against doctors, I believe we need to explore the viability of a special "court" which hears only these cases and can efficiently and fairly decide them in a manner that works for all. We should consider a concept similar to one that is already in place: our Workers Compensation system, so long as it is fair and expedient.
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