As the Obama Administration is considering health care reform, the
question becomes not only "if health care reform" but "what kind" and
"why." The following is an analysis of the problems with American
medical system as gained from multiple standpoints, and some proposed
solutions to the same.

- The lack of basic general government care is a problem especially
for the working poor, but now increasingly for the middle class and
even wealthy Americans. People continue to lose all that they've
worked for in order to care for a sick relative or themselves. There
must be an option for basic general government-funded medical care
that is available to all Americans.

- The single-payer option will not be acceptable to people who want to
choose their own doctors. People who want to choose their doctors and
are willing to pay for it should be able to do so as they presently
are.

- I recommend the Australian model, in which public health care and
private health care are available side by side. Everyone is taken care
of at a basic level; those who want choice or extra quality can pay
for it. This will fulfil the demands both of the need to provide basic
health care to all, and of the demand for consumer choice by those who
are willing to pay for it.

- While this is not often discussed in policy circles, the main reason
for the exhorbitant prices of health care in America is that the
number of doctors is far too low to meet the demand for health care at
a reasonable price even now, not even to consider the demands it will
have when the baby boomers come to old age. This shortage is
maintained by AMA's practices of not graduating enough students and
not licensing enough foreign doctors. As the demand for medical care
continues to grow, the supply remains at an exceptionally low level.
This leads to demand meeting supply at an exhorbitant price - the
price that will remain exhorbitant, whether the government or the
consumer pays for it, for as long as this problem persists.

- The shortage of doctors also means that doctors are overworked and
overstressed. This leads them to make more errors than they would
otherwise. These errors result in malpractice lawsuits, which then
result in extremely high malpractice insurance premiums. This cost is
then passed on to the consumer, adding more to the already outrageous
prices.

- This structural problem can only be resolved by there being more
doctors in America. The growing demand for health care must be met
with growing supply of medical professionals. This will result in more
available health care; lower prices of health care; and a better
lifestyle for doctors than their current overworked, overstressed,
error-prone lifestyle which is just as bad for their patients as it is
for themselves. America should graduate more doctors; it should also
allow more foreign doctors to practice in America. This will redress
the major structural problem with American medical system that is
responsible for the overly high prices of medicine in America. The
result will be in more available treatment; more affordable health
care; and better life for doctors themselves.

- American medical system has an added problem of being incentivized
for expensive and wrongful practices. These involve: Lack of
preventative medicine (as treatment of the disease is more
profitable); needless expensive machines which need to be replaced
with newer models each year; overuse of machines and machine-based
testing; overprescription of antibiotics; forcing people against their
will on life-support machines; and overdiagnosis and overmedication of
mental disorders with expensive and dangerous multi-drug combinations
(the latter, at taxpayer expense).

- Preventative medicine funded by government should be available to
all Americans. This will result in less need for catastrophic medical
treatment, lower costs, and greater health of the population.

- The prohibitive price and length of medical education makes it
accessible for only a few  people, excluding many others who would
make qualified professionals. Students graduate with $500,000 in debt
after putting in up to ten years of 18-hour-day education, not
including living expenses. Very few can actually carry this burden,
and it excludes many who would make good doctors. Those who do take on
this burden need to pay it off; they must charge prohibitive costs to
their patients; and the price spiral continues to rise.

- There should be more medical schools in America, leading to greater
competition among the medical schools and resulting in both more
admissions and lower price of tuition. The lower price of medical
education will make possible for doctors to pay off their loans by
charging less exhorbitant prices for their services.

- The practice of overdiagnosing and overmedicating mental disorders
with dangerous and expensive multi-drug combinations at taxpayer
expense is the case of pharmaceutical industry scamming the taxpayer.
ADHD is overdiagnosed and over-treated in American children with drugs
that are addictive and often carry severe, even lifelong, effects.
People who get depressed for real-world reasons or who have a
temporary life crisis are diagnosed with lifelong disorders and put on
medication for life at taxpayer expense - frequently expensive and
dangerous multi-drug combinations that do them more harm than they do
good, including severe harm such as health destruction and early
death. These practices must be put to scrutiny and, if not ended, then
at least curtailed to a level that is significantly less expensive for
the taxpayer, less harmful for children and less dangerous for adults.

- Corruption in American medical system is a growing problem. Doctors
cover up their medical mistakes and involve police, coroners, and
lawyers and judges, in their coverups. There must be direct,
insightful and uncompromising scrutiny of corrupt practices, leading
to their exposure, punishments for those who partake in these
practices, and the end of these practices that continue to result in
death and disability of countless Americans.

- Severe abuses continue to take place in the in-patient mental health
system. The definition of patients as mentally ill and the resulting
lack of credibility given to them in court of law, along with the
unchecked credibility given the mental health professionals, creates
an environment in which corruption, abuses of power, and injurious and
destructive practices have the inherent capacity to reach extreme
levels. There must be constant and diligent scrutiny of in-patient
centers to balance and check this capacity for corruption and abuse
that is a logical effect of this reality.

- Severe abuses also take place in the nursing home system, including
physical violence and even murder. These practices are rarely
investigated and, if found out, are covered up. This system must
likewise be scrutinized against these and other abuses. America's
senior citizens deserve better treatment from their country than that.

I am respectfully putting this to the attention of the voter and the
officials involved in hope that this be taken into consideration.

http://bettermillenium.blogspot.com