Needless to say Health Care is an issue that touches everyone. The new administration is looking to move toward a new methodology for curtailing the costs associated with keeping America healthy. According to the National Coalition on Health Care nearly 18% of Americans (46 Million) do not have health care. The issue is extremely frustrating for everyone involved. While I have heard many arguments both pro and con with regard to how to pay for the programs that have been promoted, I have not heard how the Health Care system would handle an additional 46 million participants. If the current US population is hovering around 300 million, how would the system handle a 15% increase in patient needs without an additional immediate increase of 15% more doctors, hospital beds, nurses, appointments, referrals, medications, pharmacists, etc, etc, etc.
Perhaps that’s why so much emphasis is being placed on upgrading the “systems capacity” of the Health Care system. If there can be a database available of “similar” outcomes based upon a specific course of treatment, perhaps this will help curtail the costs now currently incurred.However, what happens to those individuals with unique and unidentifiable illness. (Ever watch House?) Needless to say there will be those that don’t fit the model. What then?
The question that still remains is how do you upgrade the number of doctors within the system if it takes college, medical school, internship, and residency before one becomes available. More importantly, what happens to insure that you have a qualified specialist looking after your specific ailment? If it takes 10-12 years to get a student through this process, do we wait until 2021 before we allow an additional 15% of the population into the system?
All of this is predicated on the fact that this new system will reduce costs and provide greater numbers of Americans Health Care, no doubt worthy of inconveniences. The question that remains is how to pay for this system. The sites below reflect some of the opinions currently circulating.
Greg Mankiw’s Blog, The Healthcare-Competitiveness Fallacy
Greg Mankiw’s Blog, June 1st, 2009, It’s a Tie
Organizing for America, Healthcare