HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
February 2, 2002 - WAR REPORT NUMBER 5-2002
This is the last in a series that questions how long will it take for politicians to wake up and realize that the patient holds the answer to financing our health care system? The answer is, as long as respected reporters like David S. Broder, and doctors realize the same thing. Broder wrote an op-ed in the an 6, 2002, edition of The Washington Post, entitled "Fix Health Care Now." WAR Report No. 4-2002. Dr. Lewis Sandy responded in the same edition entitled "What Will It Take." Sandy is an internist and vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Sandy says health care is among the knottiest, most complex and thorniest of all national issues, and that our apparatus for dealing with it doesn't seem up to the task. Our apparatus is up to dealing with the task if politicians and advocates of the single-payer system would only listen. He says that first, it will take an admission that there are no easy choices. Conservatives need to admit that marketplace reforms alone will not address the fundamental issues that make health care less than amenable to private sector reforms. These include that fact that most health spending occurs among the few who are extraordinarily sick or have complex chronic illness. There is also evidence by the lack of enthusiasm for medical savings accounts (MSAs).

My response is that we need to expand the market to cover catastrophic illness or injury up to $8 to $10 million, and allow with big increases for MSAs. Insurance carriers could re-insure any amount above $1 million or more if they are uncomfortable with their liability exposure. The premiums would be inexpensive and employees would have tax-free dollars to pay for routine medical care from their MSAs and peace of mind knowing that they had plenty of back-up insurance form serious illness or injuries. However, currently, very few insurance carriers market million dollar catastrophic health policies for reasons unknown to me. MSAs need to be expanded and simplified to ensure ease of marketing. Now, an employer is limited to 50 lives initially, but can grow with the company for up to 200 employees. Why the limit? Insurance carriers need to provide commissions on the entire policy including MSAs. Currently, there is no financial incentive for the selling agent to add MSAs to the policy.

Stay tuned! Why? Because I tell it like it is and it's your money.

God Bless America.