the wendy gordon health care plan

Sorry, but both the Obama and Clinton health care plans are truly half-baked.  (we won’t even discuss the Republican “option”).  So here goes with the Wendy Gordon health care plan:

1)  Get rid of employer-based health plans. Every person works and everyone deserves health care as a basic societal privilege.  The current employer-based system discriminates against small businesses, the self-employed, artists, restaurant workers, and at-home caregivers. At the same time some individuals abuse the health care system, with unneccessary doctors visits and tests, poor health habits, frivolous lawsuits, and an unreasonable expectation that the medical system can fix their every ache and pain.  Social security disability payments are also grossly abused.  A single payer system puts everyone on an equal playing field.  Every American citizen will receive single-payer national health insurance in two categories a) catastrophic (defined as any hospitalizations, outpatient surgery, or ongoing care for chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, or diabetes), b) preventive–well child checkups, semiannual physicals, yearly gynecological checkups, routine tests such as pap smears.

Everything that falls into the gray area in between people can either cover with a private health plan or pay for out of pocket.  i.e:  people who run to the doctor every time they get the sniffles can purchase a plan that covers unlimited doctor visits; people who believe in alternative medicine (chiropractic, acupuncture, biofeedback) can buy an additional plan that covers this.  Prescription medications, unless they fit under the umbrella of catastrophic or chronic illness care, could also be covered by a private plan.

Obviously, what is defined as “catastrophic”, “chronic care”, or “preventive” is a subjective decision, and one that needs to be continuously reassessed in light of new medical discoveries.  I suggest taking this necessarily imprecise decision-making process out of the hands of bureaucrats and health administration officials and leaving it solely in the hands of medical professionals (largely doctors but with a few related professionals thrown in, such as nurses, nutritionists, social workers, psychotherapists, and medical ethicists).

Related changes would also help such as strictly limiting and regulating malpractice suits while at the same time making the licensing and medical practice records of doctors more transparent, and very strictly regulating the connection between doctors and the pharmaceutical industry (no more boondoggle trips, free samples, television advertising of prescription drugs, etc.)

My health care plan could be paid for by pulling out of Iraq and strictly limiting subsequent military spending.  It would put a lot of paper-pushing health care bureaucrats out of work, but maybe they could do something useful, like teach preschool or fix toilets.