Looking at the Whole Problem Backwards

Mark hails from Clear Springs, Maryland, and blogs at Left Field Perspectives.

I believe we are looking at the whole problem backwards. We are constantly trying to focus on how to pay the high costs of health care, and not on how to lower the cost of health care, which I consider more practical.

I am unashamedly Conservative, which already puts me at odds with Shaun and the majority of the readers of his blog. Be that as it may, my solution to the health care crisis in America is one which I formulated many years ago, when I fancied myself a Liberal.

So it may be a Liberal solution. I don't know. Nevertheless, I still think it's a very good solution.

We regulate many types of businesses in this country. We put a ceiling on what private enterprise can charge for goods and services. The oil industry is a good example. Gas gouging is illegal. Independent oil companies are not allowed to charge more than a set amount for gasoline.

Similarly, other industries are equally regulated. Grocery stores have a ceiling on prices. As do most industries dealing with essential human needs. Telephone, gas, electric, and trash companies have to obtain permission from the government to raise prices, and then they are limited to how much of a raise they can institute.

Why not healthcare? Doctors and pharmaceutical companies currently have no restrictions on how much they can charge for their goods and services. Why not? Are they somehow better than the oil companies, and the utilities?

Here is my solution: Do not allow doctors and pharmacists to be paid more than a set figure per year. When I first entertained this idea, my original dollar figure was $50,000.00 per year, but with inflation, that is much too low in my opinion. However, I do think $100,000.00 a year is quite enough for doctors and pharmacists to live on.

Besides, a doctor who is a good manager of his money can turn a little money into riches through other means. This plan would not prevent doctors from getting rich. It merely forces them to find more inventive ways to reach a fiduciary goal. Doctors who manage their money well can still become millionaires with this plan.

This will have several related benefits.

First, and most importantly, healthcare costs will plummet, making health care much more affordable for the average American.

Second, this plan would eliminate the mercenary doctor, who only became a doctor to get rich, and couldn't care less about the welfare of his patients, as long as he gets his fee.

The only doctors and pharmacists left would be the ones that genuinely care about the patient’s health and will do whatever it takes, and explore every avenue to that end.

Additionally, the research scientists would have no more reason to milk the coffers of charitable organizations such as the American Cancer institute, etc., and would likely miraculously find a cure. A cure that I am quite sure they already know about, but it is relatively inexpensive and if it was permitted to be used would seriously affect he yearly incomes of the doctors.

In short, don't regulate the patients. Regulate the healthcare profession itself.