This is a post I am considering using in my Strategic Management in Health Care course (HCMG770).
Post your thoughts on what should be the top quality reform initiative that needs to be addressed in healthcare today? What do you anticipate the top quality issue will be in five years?
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In my mind, healthcare changes have been as sporadic as political parties swinging into power. We have allowed the extremes of regulation to permeate our society, much with ideology to back up motivation. Unless one is blind to the news, the current top quality reform initiative in America is creating a way for every citizen – and possibly noncitizen – to become insured or have access to health insurance. As noble a goal this may be, we must also be aware of how hazardous this may be to our economic state. President Obama recently stated that every American would have access through his new public plan all the while allowing other citizens to keep their private insurance. He even made the “bold” statement that having these two systems, public and private sectors, would encourage competition and lead to lower costs. I will share more on this later.
Honestly, this discussion question deserves more attention that a couple of paragraphs but this appeal to competition now frustrates me to no end. During his run for office, it was competition in the free market that supposedly killed the economy. I am convinced this is not true at all. I suggest it was the federal government intervening in the private sector (over-regulation) which has now encouraged failed business to continue running off the backs of our tax dollars. In the real world when a company fails, the company is bought up. The risk is purchased by another company with a better and profitable business model. The customers with contracts in the failed company may not even notice a change as the new company keeps the brand as another division in their portfolio of product lines.
The same goes for healthcare. We live in a very sick society. The U.S. is among the largest in the nation, literally, in obesity. This leads to numerous chronic ailments which are then maintained/treated (not cured) through medications. The federal government will not allow the health of our citizens to fail them. We have accepted the status quo of obesity in our nation and, in a way, are starting to bailout the health of the nation, again, on the back of the taxpayers’ dollars.
I suggest the top quality health initiative we should pursue is not national healthcare, but a repeal of the Medicare Drug Prescription Program. Among one of the most wasteful and unsuccessful programs, this free nation is supporting sickness and disease like a bad habit. In the meantime, we have disregarded the financial models of proper taxation and revenue building by only increasing taxes and funding more programs. Therefore, in order for this country to get back on track, we ought to repeal wasteful programs so that American taxpayers may be able keep the monies to better their lives and the allowance for failure, too, at times.
In five years, though, I have no idea where we will be. I suppose we will have a national healthcare program “competing” with private insurers. This is a complete fallacy as the private sector is not only funding their private program, but also funding their public competition. Nonetheless, in five years, the quality reform will probably be in the form of cutting services and denying access since public programs like Medicare and Medicaid are expending more than taking in. Rationing services unfortunately may be the quality measure.
Sorry for the bleak and pessimistic outlook, but when I look back at history coupled with business and finance classes, I am utterly amazed that we ignore the theories we have learned in business management and given our freedoms to be governed by representatives truly bound to their lobbyists.
Luke
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