Healthcare Reform

Below is my plan for healthcare reform. It may seem too late to mention, but I think it has the largest potential for change without the intrusion that the current bills have in them. All of these ideas and suggestions are to be used together to make it work to positively reduce healthcare costs without major change to the current healthcare system. The basic outcome of my plan would put the ball back in the consumer’s court, giving them the decision making authority as to what happens to them medically and financially, and it would also reduce medical provider’s liability. The key word to my plan is “Menu”.

• Require all medical providers to supply both physical and online menus of services and products.

• Menus would detail the baseline cost of each service and product, just like a restaurant menu.

• Consumers could choose which services they would be willing to pay for and receive.

• The choices made from each menu would be a legally binding contract that would exclude providers from liability if a potentially beneficial or life-saving service is not provided because a patient was unwilling to pay for it, and would allow consumers to choose which services and products they are willing to pay for.

• Baseline fees would be defined as the charged fees and costs for all individual medical services and products prior to any discount, and would be the actual dollar amount that all insurance discounts and negotiated rates would be based upon.

• Exclude medical providers from liability for providing a potentially life-saving service that was not selected by the consumer, however, at the cost of the medical provider.

• The menu system would be an option in the current medical system. The menus use by consumers would not be required; however, it would become widely used due to its popularity.

• Anyone who would chose to not use the menu would continue in the current system.

• A government subsidy could be obtained by medical providers for the cost of initially creating the menus, up to a certain dollar amount.

• All menus for all providers would be accessible to the public to increase competition among providers.

• Providers could update menus once every calendar year, with that date clearly visible on each menu.

Here is what I see happening from this plan. Competition would be increased among medical providers because of the visibility of how much their services cost. The competition would lower baseline prices. In turn, consumers would know ahead of time how much money a medical service or product would cost them depending on their insurance plan. Medical choices would be more in the hands of each individual consumer. Medical providers would not be inclined to prescribe unnecessary services or procedures just for liability protection. Then medical providers would see a reduction in lawsuits and liability costs because of the legally binding menu contracts. Insurance costs should go down across the board because consumers would be choosing to use fewer services.

For myself, I would just love to know ahead of time how much I am going to be charged for medical services and to be in control of my own money when it comes to healthcare. Also, I would love for people to leave a comment on my blog telling me what they think would work best to reduce healthcare costs.


--Johnie

Sunset Poem

Sunset by Johnie Levell

Twilight rainbow on the sky
With piercing dots across
Reflected on an ebbing swath
Of blue on blackened green.

Vapor trail on western edge
The dark face scarring slow
Healing blows from stratosphere
Smoothing out the grey.

Shadows eastward racing fast
Over hills and trees
Legless speed across the ground
Merging into night.

--Johnie

Hole in the Roof

Around the 2nd chapter in the gospel of Mark is a story that starts off with, “Now Jesus was in the house.…” Earlier Mark describes how Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law in Simon’s house in Capernaum. I am deducing that this was the same house that Mark was referring to here.

The house was so packed that four guys carrying their lame buddy couldn’t get in, so they came up with a brilliant plan – tear a hole in the roof and lower him down to Jesus from above. It was a very bold plan indeed, and Jesus commended the faith of the lame man’s friends. He healed the man both of his sins and his lameness and off he went, happy as a lark.

There had to be a point some time in the night when someone said goodbye and shut the door on the last visitor. Simon must have been so excited! It was such an unforgettable night! I can just imagine the amazed look on his face! That’s probably when Simon’s mother-in-law chimed in and said, “Now, Simon, first thing tomorrow you’re going to have to get up there and fix that roof!” Yep, she was definitely her old self again.

The next day up on the roof, I just wonder if Simon pondered, “Jesus, can do anything – should I have asked for the roof to be miraculously repaired, too?” I don’t know that he thought it, but I just know that someone had to repair the hole in the roof. And I know that whenever I repair things, it is a great time to think. I think about how Jesus was a carpenter and how he did a lot of repair work, too. Did Jesus help Simon repair the roof? We don’t know, but it could have happened that way.

Whatever the case, someone had to get up there and fix that roof. Isn’t that just like life? You’ve got a perfectly good roof over head and then someone comes along and tears a hole in it and leaves it for you to fix. But God grows us and changes us into something new and beautiful when we have to fix the broken things in our lives like screaming dishwashers, dead driers, and unplanned sky-lights. He is a repairer of people and we can focus on how He repairs us when we have to deal with all the things that need repairing that interrupt our normal daily lives. So every time you have to repair that broken whatever, remember that God is only one that can truly repair our relationship with Him. All the tedious time and energy spent making things all good again reflects our heavenly Father’s compassion on our broken lives.


--Johnie