Health Care Pt I

America spends too much on health care. We devote 16 % of GNP to medical services while our Japanese and European competitors spend only half that amount. Cost of American automobiles is inflated by $1000 a car to pay for autoworkers health care. This is just one reason the Detroit carmakers are taking Federal bailout money. We cannot afford any more health care costs and we certainly cannot afford extra taxes to fund more health care.

Of the staggering sums poured into medical care, fully one quarter goes into administration (paper shuffling) according to C. Everett Koop, ex U.S. Surgeon General. The insurance companies and medic(care/aid) try to discourage claims by demanding lots of paperwork from doctors. They hire lots of clerks to review this paperwork and reject as much as possible. The doctors and hospitals buy computers and hire specialists to fill out the paperwork so they can get paid. Each insurance company strives to make it's claim forms harder to accomplish to reduce it's payout. There ought to be a single nationwide ONE PAGE claim form, acceptable to all insurance companies AND the US government. It should be simple enough for a doctor's personal computer to fill out and file over the internet. Companies should be required to pay within 45 days from submission of claim form unless they file fraud charges against the doctor in court, or, the patient dies. Federal legislation or regulation can accomplish this much.