This diarist applauds and encourages DK readers who have recently written DK diaries about their American medical nightmares. I call upon Senator Hillary Clinton and all other Democratic candidates for Congress to consider (my) comprehensive plan or implement a better one during their eventual presidency.
The United States is experiencing a health care emergency that poses a dire and immediate threat to the health and wellbeing of its populous. The complete lack of a health care system and the resulting health care chaos present an imminent danger to persons, businesses, families and communities.
The following proposal encourages elected officials to enact and implement America's first universal "system" of health care. It also encourages Americans to reject any alternative (including the status quo) that does not meet the dictionary definition of the word "system", a definition that requires a "group of items forming a unified whole". http://www.m-w.com/...
Please recommend this diary if you agree America needs to address its health care crisis. Here are my proposed fundaments of a comprehensive National Health Care System, carefully designed to replace the existing chaos with a framework that meets the needs of America's patients, healthcare providers and businesses.
1) PROVISION FOR STATE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOLS: Medical school is tuition-free at all state universities for those applicants who pass a qualifying test similar to the MCATs. Training for other health specialties is also free at state institutions of higher education, with stipends for those passing applicable entry examinations. The federal government pays for the education of physicians at state university medical schools.
2) PROVISION FOR THE EDUCATION OF DOCTORS, NURSES AND OTHER HEALTH CARE SPECIALISTS All medical school applicants passing MCAT's with the qualifying grade are admitted to medical school with a full scholarship and a stipend sufficient to support their medical school studies. (This increases the number of doctors available and reduces their post-medical school debt burden so that they can enter the practice of patient-based medicine.) Training for other health specialties is also free at state institutions of higher education, with stipends for those passing applicable entry examinations
3) PROVISION FOR THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE: The National Health Service provides free healthcare to all who request it, with the only requirement being their physical presence in America.
4) IMMUNITY FROM PRIVATE ACTION: Employees of the National Health Service and its sub-contractors shall have such immunity against private legal action as is now enjoyed by police officers and firefighters. No legal claim shall lie against a national healthcare employee who exercises the level of judgment and care required nationally from professionals in his field.
5) PROVISION FOR DISABLED PERSONS: OF Every person lawfully present in the United States and certified by the Social Security Administration as disabled shall be entitled to a maintenance pension from the time of the disability and this pension shall endure for the length of his certified illness or his lawful presence, whichever is shorter.
6) REGULATED PRIVATE MARKET: The private market for medical care is permitted and regulated, and services there are reimbursable by the National Health Service for all patients, at the same per rate for each service that the government spends in its National Health Service clinics, but not more.
7) SUBMISSION FOR REIMBURSEMENT: Any patient who has received a private medical service may submit a receipt for that service to the NHS and will be reimbursed at the NHS rate. Any medical provider who has provided a legitimate medical service to a person may submit are request for reimbursement and will be reimbursed at the NHS rate. Within 30 days, reimbursements for valid payments shall be deposited in the bank account which the reimbursee has chosen, regardless of whether the reimbursee is a patient or a provider.
8) SINGLE REIMBURSEMENT AGENCY: There shall be one single National Health Service Reimbursement Agency for the reimbursement of all medical expenses incurred in the private market and this agency shall "occupy the field" and preempt any and all other forms of reimbursement.
9) NON-PROFIT GRANT AUTHORITY: When the National Health Service deems it appropriate, it may offer grants in particular geographical areas or medical specialties and service specialties to non-profit (ONLY) organizations wishing to be sub-contractors of the National Health Service. Such services must be available equally to all who request them, and no fees or other remuneration may ever be requested, offered or accepted for receiving or providing such services. Sub-contractors receiving such grants are "state-actors" and must respect patients' rights under the law.
10) RIGHT TO MEDICINE: The possession of a physicians prescription for a medicine, treatment or device shall entitle the patient to receive the medication at no charge from National Health Service Pharmacies, which shall be present in every city and town, and the National Health Service shall reimburse
11) UNLAWFUL GAMBLING: It shall be unlawful to gamble or speculate on medical health. Consumers may pay for services in the private market at the time they are rendered or they may receive them for free from the National Health Service, but offers or acceptances of prepayment in the non-government health market by any party or parties, on one's own behalf or on behalf of another, shall be a federal crime punishable by loss of license, fines and imprisonment.
12) UNLAWFUL COMPENSATION: It shall be unlawful to offer or request compensation for any medical care or attention or medication or device provided by the National Health Service and violations shall be punished by loss of professional licenses, fines and/or imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offense and depending also on whether the offender is a recidivist. Any offer of, or request for, payment for service is a crime punishable under federal law.
13) NHS SUBCONTRACTORS: National Health Service law, NHS sub-contractor law and medical consumer protection law are federal law that preempts any contradictory state laws. Each state may increase but may decrease protections for medical consumers.
14) INFLUENCE PEDDLING: All parties who spend more than $10,000 to influence the government or the public on the matter of healthcare are eligible to apply at one central federal agency for a required healthcare lobbying license which shall not be refused. Each year, such lobbyists shall file a report stating whom they lobbied, and how much money or other things of value changed hands. The report shall also announce include their advertising budgets and other all expenditures.
15) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR VIOLATIONS OF HEALTH CARE LAWS. Every person present in the United States shall have the right to benefit from these laws and shall have a private right of legal action if a violation of these laws or a reasonably foreseeable violation has prevented or would prevent one or more patients from receiving the benefit of health law.
16) VOLUNTARY RESTRICTION ON THE USE OF THE WORD "SYSTEM" Because the United States does not have a health care "system" at present, we will refrain from describing it as such until a system is implemented. Instead, we will relentlessly refer to what we have now as "health care chaos" until such time as it is replaced by something that meets the dictionary definition and is worthy of the word "system".
17) NATIONAL HEALTH CARE DATA SYSTEM: There shall be a National Healthcare Data System in which the medical information and reimbursement details for every service provided or reimbursed by the NHS shall be recorded. It shall be a federal crime punishable by fines and imprisonment to access or modify this system without authorization or beyond the level of one's official authorization. National Health Service medical charts shall be computerized and become part of a national database. The records of every individual who requests medical care or consultation shall be available electronically to authorized health care professionals wherever such a patient requests such services from an authorized professional.
18) NATIONAL HEALTHCARE OUTCOMES SYSTEM: There shall be a National Healthcare Outcomes System for analysis of the data generated by the National Health Care Data System, to analyze health care outcomes for particular diseases, populations, medicines and by other criteria for the purpose of maximizing the medical benefits realized from America's investment in health care. Each private provider shall input the National Health Care Data System information for any service to be reimbursed.
The above is but one person's rough draft. Anyone who has a different idea is encouraged to write substitute paragraphs, additional paragraphs, or an entirely different plan, and post them here in the comments, or post them as diaries at DailyKos. Perhaps if we Americans design the system we want and need, then our elected officials will have a place to start representing us as they address the current state of emergency in American health care.