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Frequently
Asked Questions Part Five
Shaun
Kerry, M.D.
Diplomate,
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Q. The most fundamental problem
as I see it, is that we have moved the rationing
decision away from the user of the service, to
some third party. Years ago, each
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| person had to make the rationing decision, i.e.
could they afford that care or not. Today, that decision
has basically been moved to some third party. The problem
with this new scheme, is there is no way to effectively hold
down the cost of medical inflation. Before the advent
of our modern health delivery system, medical cost inflation
was lower than the overall inflation rate. Since the
move to this current system, the medical inflation rate has
consistently been above the overall inflation rate. As
a result, these third parties come up with all kinds of schemes
to hold down the rising cost of healthcare. An economist
would say, this is rationing. But the problem is, this
form of rationing never works, because you have not changed
the supply/demand dynamics at work. All you have done
is bought yourself some time. I see only two ways out
of this problem. One, is to return the rationing decision
to the consumer (not very likely), or some dramatic productivity
improvements that reduce the overall cost of providing that
care. |
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A. Before the
days of HMO's, there were severe economic
healthcare problems. HMO's
were contrived as a solution - a solution which has failed. This
website does offer a dramatic productivity change, in
addition to removing what now consists of a massive restraint
of trade. But in order to appreciate that, you
have to read the entire group of sites, taking your time
to digest the material. You could say that HMO's
are a cause, but not a root cause. There is little
that we can do directly about HMO's. But if we
communicate effectively the concepts on this web site,
the root causes will be exposed, and in time, corrected. Given
that, society may have little need for HMO's.
Q.
More doctors do not lower price. As
current research confirms (from
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an area, they simply double the number of required office
visits.
A. That
makes sense at the present time. So
we need a new breed of
doctor. When
a doctor leaves medical school now, he or she
is $300,000
in
debt and often damaged by the many years of forced
memorization. The cost is passed on to the consumer.
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