Fixing the Economy

Saturday morning I woke up dreaming about how to fix this country … starting with the health care system.  Here is what I dreamed:

1. Medicare for everyone.  The system is in place to pay for medical care for everyone.  Do away with the insurance “industry”.

2. Cover all types of medical services that have proven results, including:

1. Chiropractic
2. Psychiatric services
3. Massage therapy
4. Acupuncture
5. Midwifery
6. Preventive medicine
7. Dentistry
8. Hearing aids
9. Vision care

3. Provide free education for medical professions, including nursing and technical schools, based on aptitude and performance.  Include internships as a provision of the training.  Require graduates to work in the profession for a minimum number of years or to pay back the cost of their education. 

4. Increase the medicare portion of income tax.  Take cap off – all income taxed at the same percentage.   Impose a national tax on proven unhealthy substances, including tobacco, alcohol, fatty fast food.

5. Increase support for wellness clinics and programs such as WIC, Have a Healthy Baby.

6. Reinstate the old-fashioned institution of the “General Practitioner” -  the family doctor who knows the patient – and could co-ordinate other care as indicated.  Too many people go to several different doctors, each of whom treats a separate part of the body.   The body is not separate parts, but a whole system.  

This simple plan would result in the following benefits for our country and its citizens:

1. We would all be healthier. 
2. More of us would be able to work at jobs we loved, instead of taking the job with the best health insurance.
3. More of us would be able to work part-time – and spend more time with our families and in healthy leisure activities.  More parents could afford to stay at home to care for their children.
4. With proper dental care, substance abuse would decrease.  Although not documented, pain from dental problems is often the initial source of substance abuse. 
5. Employers would be able to hire more workers instead of making their workers put in large amounts of over-time, which is stressful for the worker as well as for their families.
6. Jobs would be created in the health care system.
7. Many elderly people would be able to communicate better with the rest of the world if they could afford proper hearing aids.  The isolation of many elderly people is a direct result of hearing loss.

The greatest objection to this plan would be offered by the insurance “industry”.  In response to this objection:

1. Current employees of insurance companies could find work with the administration of the Medicare program.  Many others who already have medical backgrounds could work providing services.  Executives who make huge salaries could either retire or find themselves other employment.  Stockholders in the insurance companies would have to be bought out or compensated in some way … like the stockholders of Enron.

2. Current buildings belonging to health insurance providers could be converted to actually provide medical services.

Of course, there will be some transitional problems.  For a while there will be a larger demand for services than there are providers.  We already seem to have a shortage of doctors and nurses.  We need to increase the capacity of the schools that train our doctors and nurses.   In all medical schools there are many more students who apply than are admitted.