Health Care Solution

We need a National Health Insurance plan that every American belongs to and which every Doctor, hospital, and pharmacy is required to take. The NHI should be a comprehensive medical insurance plan that covers everything from preventive health to catastrophic health care. Its goal should be to provide the healthcare cost reimbursements at a base level suitable to the majority of its citizens.

The NHI should not cover experimental surgeries, cosmetic, off schedule or excessive labs, or extraordinary and/or high risk procedures. Rather, it’s the baseline of which other insurance can be built. Though it should provide for general care, it should be possible for Americans to purchase Health Gap Insurance to obtain a greater level of care. This secondary insurance would pay doctors where the NHI leaves off and prior to the patient billing.

The leading complaint of a government run NHI type organization is that it would stifle the “Best Health Care in the World”. However, if Insurance companies are able to provide gap insurance, the “best” doctors could still charge higher rates based on their experience and/or research.

For example, if the NHI standard for an office visit is $90 and the patient’s doctor actually charges $250, then NHI may pay the first $90 while the Gap Insurance may pay another $90 of the office visit which then leaves the patient with a $70 co-payment. This leaves some of the responsibility with the patient whom could have selected a doctor that charges closer to $90 for an office visit and foregone the Gap Insurance.
The NHI, like insurance companies do today, would need to compute the customary charges for services and adjust them accordingly on an annual basis. The government might also offer doctors a student loan write-off incentive for keeping rates below or equal to the published customary charges.