10 Questions (with Answers)

1. If you could change ONE thing about our health care system, what would that be?

The financing. Instead of hundreds of profit-seeking health insurers, money should be collected and bills paid by a single government payer.


Profit seeking health insurers.

So what will this new system do with the 4% profit that is saved? And what about the not-for-profit insurers?

2. Most people agree that the costs are out of control. What can be done about that?

By far, the fastest growing element of cost is wasteful health administration.

I agree.

Doctors should not be in the business of filing claims for their patients. Especially the PCP's. Claim filing should be the patient's responsibility.

3. What works in our system? What doesn't?

Our system of medical education and our medical research are as good as most places in the world.

As discussed above, the current multiple payer financing is unaffordably wasteful and forces a larger and larger proportion of the $2 trillion we spend on health each year to fund people who are not, in any remote way, delivering medical care. They are not doctors, nurses, pharmacists or other health care providers but, in many cases, health care deniers whose job it is to fight with each other (insurance administrator vs. hospital administrator or doctor’s office administrator) to deny payments or even coverage for needed health services.

Doctor good, insurance carrier bad.

Without third party oversight, how many MRI machines would be sold, and how many MRI's would be scheduled to support the cost of the machines?

Before managed care almost every woman over age 40 had a hysterectomy. When oversight was put in place the number of hysterectomy's dropped precipitously.

Probably just a coincidence.

4. People come to this country from all over the world and get great medical care. But so many Americans slip through the cracks. What can be done to close this gap?

But recent years have also seen a flow in the opposite direction, with large numbers of American patients traveling abroad in search of less expensive and often more luxurious health care, frequently surgery.

Outsource our medical care. What a novel idea. Take all of our indigent and ship them out of country for treatment.

Do we bring them back too?

5. We hear a lot about the number of uninsured Americans. Just how many are there?

At the time of a government survey in 2006, about 43.6 million people in the United States, or 14.8 percent of the population, had no health insurance.

That means 85% are covered.

Of course what they don't tell you is about 40% of those who are uninsured qualify for taxpayer funded plans. Another 40% can afford health insurance, but choose to bypass insurance.

6. What's the lowdown on managed care? HMOs? Single payer?

By having all people in this country covered by a single payer health system, not just those on Medicare, our current expenditures for health — in excess of $2 trillion a year — could go much further

That $2 trillion will also go a lot further under a national health care plan when services are limited or denied.

Those who suggest that Medicare is a superior system never want to address the deductibles, copays and non-covered services for Medicare recipients. They don't want to talk about Medicare beneficiaries who cannot afford medicine, or cannot find a provider willing to treat them for what Medicare is willing to pay.

Wonder why?

7. What role should the government play in providing Americans with health care? What role should the marketplace play?

The government should guarantee that everyone in this country has health insurance by collecting the money and paying the bills, cutting out the pick-pockets in private industry.

Pick-pockets.

Every time I get a paycheck something is missing. It is as if the government picked my wallet before my earning get to the bank.

But I guess that is different.

8. Is there a model for a health care system that you think works, that we might model our reformed system after?

The model we adopt for our single payer health care system can be crafted from the best elements of existing systems in the many countries, such as Canada and France, that already provide universal health care

Canada & France.

Seems like we have addressed the shortfalls of these systems before. This must have been missed by Couric and company.

9. The baby boomers are now starting to retire, and people question whether Medicare will be able to handle them. Will it?

At present, Medicare is wasting about ten billion annually overpaying private Medicare HMOs

WAIT!

If the taxpayer funded, government run Medicare plan is "wasting billions" then why is this a better system?

If Medicare KNOWS it is wasting billions, why isn't this stopped?

10. What role will the health care issue play in the election? And is there a political candidate in this broad field who you think has the right idea?

We can not only hope that health care plays a major role in the coming presidential election but also that the ideas put forth are more progressive than those currently being espoused by all of the so-called leading candidates.

So-called leading candidates.

Does that mean Hillary?