Every week leading up to the election of 2016, it seems there are more political candidates joining the large field of Presidential candidates. Despite the fact that the healthcare system is struggling, there are no any clear plans on repairing what ails it. The next President stands to drive the direction our healthcare system follows. And, with the system the way it is, doctors and patients both need a champion for healthcare to step forward.
While more and more candidates our jumping into the ring, perhaps it is the chance to define what we need the next POTUS to do in order to salvage our system:
1- The ACA needs to be re-examined and repealed. Many patients are suffering under the added costs they are incurring under this act. More people are unable to afford medical care (just look at the outlandish deductibles) than previously.
2- We need to redefine our goal to making healthcare more affordable, not just herding more enrollees onto health insurance plans for the profits of 3rd party insurance companies.
3- We need 3rd party insurance company over-sight. When a CEO makes over $30 million in salary and bonuses in a single year by denying many benefits, there is a flaming conflict of interest. There should be transparency in insurance company (and of their executives) profits.
4- We need an arbitration system for disputing claims with insurance companies. They are creating guidelines to maximize profits and put patients lives at risk. An outside source needs to scrutinize these denial and it should be experts determining these outcomes. There is no effective arbitration system in place currently. These disputes just get passed higher and higher up the companies denial chain until all avenues are exhausted, or frustration causes us to give up.
5- We need tort reform. Defensive medicine is driving up healthcare costs. I have seen many estimates of how much. One study showed that every 1 out of 4 healthcare dollars goes toward the practice of defensive medicine. But, under our current tort system, there is no way around this. Patients can file lawsuits just in the hopes of winning the malpractice lottery without any real tort existing. And lawyers are pushing this wagon. We need limits on malpractice pay-outs and we need to stop frivolous cases from making it to the courts. Better yet, an arbitration system would be true tort reform. In such a system, a case would be decided by a panel of experts and not a sympathetic jury. Yes, patients who are harmed by medical negligence or outright malpractice need a way to seek justice and payment for damages. But, our current system is just enriching lawyers and driving up healthcare costs.
6- We need the government to take a more hands off approach in the practice of medicine. Politicians do not hold medical degrees and should not be making decisions that affect the health of its citizens. The whole Meaningful Use program needs to be scrapped. It has not achieved its goals and the technology still doesn’t exist to help it reach its goals. It has put a barrier (a computer as the case may be) between doctors and patients. We need to get back to the true doctor-patient relationship. Other regulations need to be re-examined for their true usefulness, or uselessness as the case may be, and need to stop being rolled out with no true benefit other than serving personal agendas.
In this extended field of Presidential hopefuls, will we find one who will fix our healthcare system? Will a healthcare hero step up to assume the powers in the White House?
