Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Ten Inconvenient Truths

Dr. Richard Reece lists 10 "Inconvenient truths about our health care system".

Here are a couple of examples:
4. The next political crisis will be limited access to doctors; this is already occurring in Boston, where waiting times to see doctors are 2 to 3 times the national average for comparable cities.

7. Passing federal laws permitting patients to enroll in plans and "portability" of plans across state lines would make a public option unnecessary and would render private plans "competitive."

8. Ending "community ratings," which force the young to pay the same premiums as older individuals, and reducing "standard benefit plans," which often include unnecessary benefits, would reduce premiums for the young and decrease the number of uninsured.
Read the whole thing.

(My only comment is that I don't think we should try to salvage Medicare by patching the low rates paid to primary care physicians; instead we should gradually phase the program out entirely and privatize it.)