The President this week has moved health care reform to the top of his little change agenda.
Although I agree that reform is needed I do question the timing.
With a country in economic turmoil I feel this should be put on the back burner for a bit up until such time that we see more promising economic news.
Mr.
President, this is not something you have any margin for error on.
Screw this up and this country could collapse.
Now, Mr President, since you demand reform now, here are my thoughts on what you can do and not do to correct the system.
First, do not destroy the integrity of the system.
Americans have the greatest health care system in the world.
We have the best doctors and hospitals of anywhere on the planet.
We also have the ability to choose our medical and health insurance providers.
We also have the ability to demand answers from our doctors, unlike other parts of the world.
Look, that's saying something.
My wife is from Sweden and just last month her mother was experiencing blood pressure problems.
Her blood pressure would not get under control, she has been on the same medication for years.
Her blood pressure readings were almost off the charts.
What did the Swedish health care system do? Well, they did put her in the hospital but this after they sent her home several times telling her no big deal.
While in the hospital they did nothing, they just slapped her in a bed and left her to do whatever.
After several trips to the emergency room they finally decided she would not go away and they changed her medication.
Now she is fine.
Truth is that is appeared they could care less if she died and it almost appeared they wished she would just die so they could get rid of her.
I don't think we want the government running our system, we will wind up with this kind of mess.
So whatever you do Mr.
President, allow insurance companies and doctors remain independent.
Ok, another area you can wrap your hands around is drug prescription cost.
Mr.
President, have you ever looked at the amount of campaign contributions elected public officials take from this sector? Its millions of dollars.
How much did you take Mr.
Obama? And the drug lobbyists are larger than life.
Bottom line, the prescription drug cartel ranks among the top for persuading congress with campaign cash.
Stop this practice.
If you can develop a plan to bring down drug cost like it is in other countries health insurance premiums will retreat.
You can also outlaw prescription drug advertisement.
We do this now with tobacco adds.
Why not eliminate drug adds? Every few minutes an advertisement appears on the television promoting this drug or that.
This practice entices the consumer to go demand that drug from their doctor, and these advertised drugs are most often times the most expensive on the market.
Should drug companies not be "pitching" the doctors and not the patients? Last I checked I did not attend medical school so why should I be telling my doctor what drugs I want to take? Lastly, if you goal is to have coverage for all Americans try this system.
Mandate that there be a national health risk pool.
We have a risk pool here in Texas for consumers with health conditions.
Texans can purchase this plan with no exclusions for pre existing conditions.
Now, the premiums are rather high but this plan will work nationwide.
Here is how.
Set up the national health risk pool, and all provide a subsidy to the risk pool.
The subsidy will be collected from insurance companies based on the percentage of business they do nationwide, for example if Aetna does 12% of all health insurance business then assess them at a rate of 12% of any subsidy.
The policy itself should be basic health insurance, not loaded up with expensive benefits.
Also, the premiums should be marginally higher and not quite as benefit rich as free market health insurance in order to protect the integrity of the health insurance industry.
These plans should only be available to consumers that have certain health conditions or when a cheaper option can not be found.
This system will then cause the health insurance companies to be more inclined to keep premiums affordable.
Health care can be fixed Mr.
President, but you must be careful what you wish for.
Otherwise you can cripple this economy even more than it already is.
Proceed with caution!