Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

The Proactive Health Care Approach, Pt.14 – Pay more, only in America.

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“Pay more, get less!”, “Why not pay more?”, “Buy now!”. What culture of peoples would fall for this? Americans. A non-political and independent economist named Dan Magder has become well renowned for his accurate insights in health systems economics. Two of his primary foci have been ‘outcomes’ and ‘patient/consumer protections’ concerning health insurance/care. ‘Outcomes’ are, basically, the results of medical care. ‘Protections’ are the results services delivered by health insurance providers. There is little doubt that the well-published research indicating “Americans spend some $2.5 trillion a year on health care — more, on a per capita basis, than any other industrialized nation,” (Rosen/ FOXNews) is true.

There is, also, little doubt that the well-published research indicating “— the U.S. lags behind in vital categories like infant mortality, medical recovery rates and life expectancy,” (Rosen/ FOXNews) is also true. Mr. Magder explains the economics knot our current health insurance/care system. He explains that “We spend more money on doctors, we spend more money on drugs, we spend more money on administration.” In other words, we pay for what ever price the industry wants to charge, no matter how poor the product. So, a very proactive approach is being taken by both candidates by creating a reward system that is no longer based on quantity, as it is now. It would be newly-based on quality (based on “how healthy his patient is.’) As Mr. Magder explains “that’s a lot easier to do in theory than it is to do in practice.” But the good news is the overall national shift in focus from quantity to quality. Now, that is very proactive and works toward satisfying all four of the axioms.