Health Care Reform

I would love to have the time and ability to create an entire blog devoted to this subject because I really think that the mothers and women I have talked to about this are the ones who really have the answers. What is wrong with all the big wigs?! (Maybe their heads are too big) My sister concisely solves most of the major health care problems our country has in a simple four step approach that would cost almost (at least comparatively) nothing and solve a host of problems with the health care crisis.

Step One: All doctor visits cost $100 - People have lost touch with how much health care really costs. If you never have to pay something (insurance covers everything) it becomes a crutch. Insurance could reimburse people, but this should help people look at going to the doctor realistically.

Step Two: All doctors must post prices for basic fees - When no one knows how much something is it is going to be meddled with. Isn't this how mechanics and other industries work? Why not health care. It will also tell you a little about the doctor you are going to. You get what you pay for.

Step Three: Cap litigation rewards for subjective losses - Obvious. I wonder exactly how much of a doctor's fee is to cover his cost of malpractice insurance. We have already seen and heard of places where people can't get OBs because they can no longer afford malpractice insurance.

Step Four: Get rid of paper! - a short hospital stay results in volumes of repetitive notes and charting that no one is going to look at (except a lawyer years after the fact for litigation purposes). Couldn't it be electronically organized in a better way so that the multiple doctors treating a patient can review it easier, thus cutting down on medical mistakes and the cost of producing and filing and transporting paper.