The only way to get rid of the headaches associated with insurance companies and payment structures and the like is to have the government own and operate everything and employ everybody
IMO, this is exactly what we need - not for the entire healthcare, but for the safety net. As a replacement for Medicaid. As for the rest of healthcare, I think we may actually be better off going back to a market pricing system.
I think the advent of the concierge medicine is a valid variant of market pricing. My Mother goes to an Internist who charges a $1500 retainer yearly - and I think those dollars could not have been spent better. The guy, so far, either answered his cell phone every time I had to talk to him, or called me back within the hour. He took excellent care of my Mother when she had to be in the hospital. In other words, if asked what in my opinion his services are worth, I'd have to say that her Medicare fees plus the 1.5K make it, actually, a bargain.
Not to mention that my almost 91 year old mother seems to be having a crash on her doc... I call it excellent healthcare plus.... :)
As for RVU's... I'm not really critical of them. I was excited about them when they were first implemented. The problem is that there seems to be no way to apply them without human bias playing a big part. If I prefer apples, and will apply 25 RVU's to an apple, and only 1 to an orange, I'm no longer comparing apples with oranges. And that is what happens. |
