Ken Hughes on Healthcare Reform
Michelle Malsbury, BSBM, MM
July 24, 2009
As you are aware congress is debating how best to reform our broken healthcare system. President Obama has made this a priority in his presidency. The people of America have been outspoken about the need to do so, but what is the best way to actually get the job done?
The right (GOP), and many of the more conservative left (Blue Dog Dems), believe that to add to the already overblown deficit at this time is not a good idea and are therefore dragging their heels about this new healthcare legislation. Pundits are talking about this never coming to fruition. In the midst of all of this banter my friend Ken Hughes---and he is from the right sent me a e-mail with the following notation as to how to fix our broken healthcare system. IT went a lot like this [paraphrase]:
1. Do not allow advertising from pharmaceutical companies on television or in magazines that influence the direct public. Require them to sell their products for the same price---whether it is to Canada, Mexico, the USA, or anywhere else.
2. Cap law suits at $250k: mediate all smaller disputes in the medical profession---i.e.malpractice
3. Have medical residents perform residency in free clinics along with rotation by other medical professionals in places readily available to the public, i.e. WalMart or CVS or Walgreens. Alleviating the need for insurance. Services rendered for free.
I admit that I was surprised by his plan and can see some merit in it. Our current problems rest with the disparity between quality and cost of care for people who have insurance and those, like me, who have no insurance. If the medications are less costly and the care is free we cannot do a lot better than that. I might add that if a family or person is indigent or has no means to pay for the prescription and they are necessary they should be provided for free by the pharmaceutical companies who can write it off for a tax benefit. For more costly prescriptions we can have the people act as drug case study participants to help determine side effects, etc..
Can this work? Think about it and get back to me or your congressional representative. By the way Ken----thanks for planting the seeds!
The right (GOP), and many of the more conservative left (Blue Dog Dems), believe that to add to the already overblown deficit at this time is not a good idea and are therefore dragging their heels about this new healthcare legislation. Pundits are talking about this never coming to fruition. In the midst of all of this banter my friend Ken Hughes---and he is from the right sent me a e-mail with the following notation as to how to fix our broken healthcare system. IT went a lot like this [paraphrase]:
1. Do not allow advertising from pharmaceutical companies on television or in magazines that influence the direct public. Require them to sell their products for the same price---whether it is to Canada, Mexico, the USA, or anywhere else.
2. Cap law suits at $250k: mediate all smaller disputes in the medical profession---i.e.malpractice
3. Have medical residents perform residency in free clinics along with rotation by other medical professionals in places readily available to the public, i.e. WalMart or CVS or Walgreens. Alleviating the need for insurance. Services rendered for free.
I admit that I was surprised by his plan and can see some merit in it. Our current problems rest with the disparity between quality and cost of care for people who have insurance and those, like me, who have no insurance. If the medications are less costly and the care is free we cannot do a lot better than that. I might add that if a family or person is indigent or has no means to pay for the prescription and they are necessary they should be provided for free by the pharmaceutical companies who can write it off for a tax benefit. For more costly prescriptions we can have the people act as drug case study participants to help determine side effects, etc..
Can this work? Think about it and get back to me or your congressional representative. By the way Ken----thanks for planting the seeds!