VideoMD Health Care Reform Plan

Water cooler talk around the country is now focused on health care reform. While most doctors and health care practitioners agree with politicians that the current system is not sustainable in the long term, very few agree with the ideas being propagated in Washington currently. A video from Mike Magee "Health Reform's Time Has Come" discusses the need for health care reform.

Unfortunately, the reform that is being discussed now is likely to increase cost, and waiting times and decrease the ability of your health care practitioners to make the best decisions for your health. They plan to start a Government Health Plan, which if it anything like the stellar care of the VA system, is sure to be a bomb. They will decrease cost by increasing the wait times, centralizing care, and decreasing reimbursement to doctors and hospitals.

To discuss health care reform, without discussing medical liability reform IS A JOKE!
The cost of defensive medicine in this country has been underestimated for years. The reason for this is the trial lawyer lobby in Washington is very powerful, and they don't want their cash cow of medical malpractice to be lost. The reform that your government officials are telling you is so necessary is not going to help this country in the long term.

Doctors are not completely innocent in the costs of health care. The dirty little secret is that this issue is a double edged sword for physicians. We are concerned about liability, and order too many tests to avoid being accused later that we didn't do enough for the health of "the plaintiff". But, we do make money by performing and interpreting these tests.

True reform must include two basic aspects. The way medical malpractice law functions in the US must be completely overhauled. Most of the discussion usually revolves around tort reform and "caps". In actuality, the way to eliminate most of the lawsuits is with an arbitration board consisting of doctors and lawyers to discuss the merits of a case before a suit can be filed. Since most lawsuits around the country are not real malpractice, such as wrong leg surgery, but are minor variations in the practice of medicine, eliminating most "frivolous" lawsuits is appropriate. Once this is in place, physicians and health care practitioners can make the appropriate decisions for their patients, without fear. The second part of the reform changes the payment from medicare and the insurance companies to a fairly administered capitation system. This systems pays the doctors a fee for taking care of patients on a monthly or yearly basis. So no matter how many times you see a patient or how many tests you order, you still receive the same amount of money. This would have to be done directly, with no middle-men, to avoid corruption. This would allow physicians and health care practitioners to make decisions for their patients, instead of the government or insurance bureaucrats. This should also fairly compensate doctors and health practitioners for their hard work.

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