Health Care Reform: What are the goals?

Lower the cost of health insurance for those already paying for it.

Get affordable insurance available for those that don't qualify for Medicare or Medicaid.

Cover those that cannot afford health insurance.

Provide children and seniors with care.

Provide preventive care for all.

Provide prescription drug coverage/discounts for those that cannot afford it

Help seniors feel safe in their retirement years.

Insure that patients can choose and keep their own doctors.

Insure that patients and doctors decide on the care that is given and not bureaucrats or government.

Stop any and all health care abuse and fraud (including by the medical and insurance professionals)

Allow patients to keep their coverage if they lose their jobs.

Force insurance companies to provide insurance regardless of previous health conditions.

Reward either or all the patients, doctors, nurses, hospitals and insurance agencies for good policies.

I'm sure this has probably been discussed in the past; but perhaps since Medicare needs to be 'fixed' soon or go bankrupt in 10 years; why not add more patients to it and merge other systems with it, thereby adding more customers paying into it and getting rid of redundancy. 

Instead of fixing Medicare and Medicaid, creating SCHIPP for children and providing a separate prescription drug plan for seniors, and a supplemental program for getting the ill back to work, why not merge them all into one government ran plan, instead of separate ones like we have them now?

Right now Medicare, Medicaid, the SCHIPP program, the supplemental program for disabled and the prescription drug plans are all ran by their own individual departments.  Departments that all require individual CEO, directors, assistant directors, board members, administrative and support staff, buildings, maintenance for those buildings, custodial staff and cleaning support, etc...  Instead of spending billions of taxpayer money every year on all these different departments, why not consolidate them all?  Yes it would require the loss of jobs; but isn't that what the Republicans want, less government?

Democrats, and for the most part, Republicans all agree that Medicare should be repaired, not removed or stopped, so that wouldn't be an issue when negotiating this idea.

Remember the Democratic Party's idea of merging several departments together during the presidency of George W Bush into a department called the Homeland Defense Department?  Why can't that be done with our current government ran health care systems?

While doing this merging, add a more diverse group of customers to the bucket, thereby adding more money into the whole system from those new folks joining up.  Allow the option to negotiate for cheaper drugs from other nations.  Mandate that every adult pays a portion of their health care from that new department (Public Health Care...PHC).    Even if that amount is only 1% of their income, it's more money coming into the system.

Eliminating SCHIPP, disability Medicaid and income based MEDICAID and adding those patients (money) to PHC would likely reinforce the system because they are younger and less likely to have severe health issues.  The bulk of the new patients would not even have to use the system, freeing up those premiums to help pay for the seniors health care (saving Medicare).

Those citizens that can't afford insurance but make too much to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare could also be included in the bucket.  They could be asked to pay a little more than the rest (but not as much as a policy would cost today from the insurance market).  It could be based on their income.  This too, would likely involve folks that are younger and less likely to require a lot of health care, saving the government money, but also bringing in more money (premiums) into the system for seniors and those that really need it like the disabled.

The PHC plan sould provide a set of preventive health care screening for all of its customers per year.  Everybody would be given blood work, urinalysis, chest xrays, pap/breast and prostate testing, ear, nose and throat screenings, vaccinations, etc...  The basic screens to make sure they continue to be healthy, saving taxpayers money in the long run-- by catching any diseases early.

The prescription drug plan would also be extended to those same patients; saving them all money.  That plan could be based on Wal-Mart's plan, whatever that is, that charges customers only $4 per prescription. 

This new PHC plan should also remove the 80% rule.  Medicare currently only pays 80% of what 'they think' (a group of bureaucrats) the service or procedure should costs.  That rule should be removed.  It's confusing and eliminates a lot of doctors from taking patients with Medicare or Medicaid.  If the new PHC plan only wants to cover 80% of care, then so be it; but no more of this confusing coverage.  It's unfair to the medical profession and it's unfair to seniors trying to understand it all and cover the difference by buying additional private coverage, which is just another windfall for the Insurance industry.  Removing that rule would also allow patients to see any doctor they want to, instead of just those accepting the Medicare rule.

If you asked the seniors that have to pay for additional health supplemental because of that 80% rule won't cover enough of the bill, if they would rather just pay more on their monthly premiums into PHP(Medicare), they'd be happy to do so.  Most seniors that can afford it are paying an additional $1200-2000 more a year for that additional coverage.

As for the private insurance industry and employers that provide insurance to their employees, everything would stay about the same, except to force them to provide specific preventive health care screenings like the PHP plan, pay for vaccinations that are available like the flu shot, to accept anybody regardless of previous health conditions and to accept customers from across state lines.  They should also allow the consumer the opportunity to keep their plans even if they lose their jobs.  They should also be allowed to choose their own doctors.

Private industry can choose to cover other procedures or not; competition will keep them in line with today's health needs.

If the customer can pay for a plan, they must be required to do so, just as we are required to pay for liability coverage on our cars.  This rule would provide more customers (money) into the health care industry, helping to pay for those that fall through the craps (ex: the homeless).  It should also make the insurance industry happy.

Health insurance costs will drop over time because the preventive care, as mentioned before with the PHC plan, would catch diseases early --preventing longer and more expensive care down the road.

Reward should be given to patients, doctors, nurses, clinics, hospitals and insurance companies for good policies either with tax deductions, reduced premiums or additional coverage, like the car insurance policies do now.

All of the above should please most involved.  Seniors, parents with children will know that they will be covered, no matter what.  Citizens will get access to affordable coverage as well. 

Employers will see reduced costs in the long run.  They will also find they cannot just stop offering plans, forcing employees to go to the PHP, because those employees will most likely be making too much money to even qualify.  Employees will find better work and insurance plans elsewhere if their current employment should choose to walk away from providing insurance. 

Citizens that are for a public health plan get their way --- PHP (replaces Medicare, Medicaid, Dis Ins and SCHIPP).

Citizens against creating a NEW public health plan get their way.  No new plan is created.  What we already have is just revamped removing redundancy.

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party will be please that a lot of waste in government will be eliminated by merging Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIPP and disability insurance departments and by eliminating the 80% rule.

The Democratic Party and President Barack Obama will be happy because they will have gotten universal health care for all without raising the deficit by any great amount.

I'll be the first to admit that I do not know what cost savings this plan would bring; but to insure everybody, make everybody happy - isn't it worth looking into?