Okay, I’ve got to say something about this. I thought from the beginning this debate was suppose to be about improving health care in America and making sure access to health care was open to as many people as possible. Instead it’s turned into a debate on regulating the insurance companies and maybe the government getting into competition with the insurance companies with their “public option”.
For those of you who may not have figured it out the “public option” is just taking TennCare and expanding it to the entire country. Ask the good folks in Tennessee how well that has worked out for them.
I think instead of concentrating on delivering health care we need to start looking at ways we can avoid finding ourselves in need of medical care. If we could encourage more Americans to consider a healthy lifestyle maybe the need for health care would drop, we would live longer and also reduce the degree of end of life care we need and medical costs would drop along with insurance rates.
Right now only one state (Colorado) has a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia ) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%. The total prevalence of diabetes in the US increased 13.5% from 2005-2007. Folks this has to be a big portion of the cause of high health costs in the US.
For as long as I can remember there has been a “President’s Council on Physical Fitness” and this council has had their President’s Challenge in order to encourage Americans to be more active and physically fit. As a way to decrease health care cost why not more strongly encouraging Americans to become fit. Why not offer a tax credit to those Americans who can meet the President’s Challenge? If we can do it for alternative fuels we can do it for fitness.
I think this is an idea that needs to be spread around so I’m asking you a favor, link to this idea. Whether you agree with it or disagree with it let’s talk about it and maybe move the discussion on health care reform toward prevention rather than strictly on delivering health care.
I like the idea of insurance providers giving lower premiums according to body-fat percentiles. People will do more to put money in their pockets, and if they know they'll get $5/mo added to their take-home if they can either lose X weight or show Y body-fat percentile already, they're more likely to actually try.
This is similar to John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, and his recent op-ed piece.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html
I'm all for insurance companies being able to charge more or less based on whichever statistical factors they choose. Create more competition instead of saying, "you have to treat everyone the same".
Even though it would probably hurt me financially.
I did look around at what people were writing about TennCare and the first major flaw (if this is correct) was the lack of co-pays. Putting a nominal amount on service or perscriptions provided tends to put enough friction into the transaction that people avoid rampant abuse.
But that is me and my ignorant theories. YMMV
(It would be nice t know that when I hit submit comment I’m going to be prompted for my OpenID credentials. Then I would put in the long-form URL.)
Mark, that was the second major flaw. The first major flaw was offering a much better health care system for the uninsured citizens of Tennessee than the surrounding states were offering with residence requirements so lax that people from those surrounding states could become residents, sometimes, without even moving or if moving just move a few blocks into Tennessee.
I fully agree with you on the copay aspect. However, the comments I’ve been reading from the Canadians and the Brits is that having no financial obligation for health services is the great thing about their system.
But my amazement is in the fact that we really aren’t doing anything to improve the citizens of this country’s health. Handing out pills and operating is a reactive method of health care. Promoting a healthy lifestyle is proactive and is where the real cost savings lie.
Maybe my tax credit for fitness isn’t the answer but there has to be some way that we can encourage a healthier lifestyle. Personally, I’d just as soon the government do as few things as necessary but I think promoting good health from the beginning may be one of those necessary things.