More lessons from Europe: Fixing Healthcare

The incoming administration represents Americans' wish for change, on oh so many fronts. Let's see...how many things has G.W. screwed up that need fixin', there's:

1. the economy
2. the environment
3. foreign affairs
4. national affairs (including practically non-existent mass transportation)
   
5. HEALTH CARE

OK, to be fair, G.W. didn't screw up health care. It's been broken for a good long time. But how much longer do you suppose the country can go on like this? When we were rich, we could keep our head above water. But now that we're in a financial ditch, it's just going to just keep getting worse.

So, what to do. Loads of people point to the big bad pharma companies (the ones getting so rich off of the public--hmm wait a minute...shouldn't revenue and profit reflect in the stock price? And why, if these companies are doing so incredibly well, aren't their stock prices going up? Another blog for another day).

OK, the cost of medicines is high. And so is the cost of hospitalization. Or even a trip to the ER, for that matter, is extremely expensive. Scouting around the internet for "average prices" brought me to this publication

http://www.swiftmd.com/xres/uploads/documents/SwiftMD-WhitePaper20080819a.pdf

but there are many more out there. Swift MD claims that the average trip to the ER will cost the consumer over $1000.

Having worked in the health care industry for nearly 16 years, I can tell you that the "system" is very, very broken. And it's not just one part--it's everything. In this case, we might just consider throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Here's why.

1. Americans want "a deal." I believe that if we asked folks to pay "their fair share" of their medical bills (and I'm talking about using a relative, sliding scale) we'd have anarchy. The thing that appeals to most is the convenient $15 office visit.
2. Americans are appalled at the idea of "socialized" medicine. God forbid the government step in an coordinate health care--we'll all die!
   
3. Insurers, given the choice, only want to insure healthy people. As long as we have an open market with health care, sick people or people at risk will always either pay more or be excluded altogether, and that works for the insurance companies and makes it easier to offer $15 office visits.

Why are we so vehemently opposed to a not-for-profit approach to health care? While not all nations have this right (Canada and the UK are dismal, for instance), some nations do a fabulous job of it (France and Switzerland, for example). Can't we learn from them?

In Switzerland, if you are a resident, you are required to have health care insurance. Period. No ifs, buts, ands. You must provide proof of a policy to obtain a resident permit. My dad (60+) has the senior special. Approximately $180 per month even covers many physician prescribed medications. The downside? He only gets a semi-private hospital room should he need to be hospitalized. My daughter has the creme de la creme policy--which costs a whopping $50 per month. Even dental and eyeglasses are included, along with approximately $800 per year allowance toward some kind of physical activity (ie gym membership, etc.).

On paper it looks too good to be true. It is both good AND true. Health care in Switzerland is regarded extremely highly on the international front, and beats the US on many levels, particularly on the return on investment. Recently I had a chance to test it out. After my nearly 3 year old daughter had popped her elbow out of its socket, we took a trip down to our local ER since kids tend to do these things either after hours or on weekends, and it happened to be a Sunday. We went to the public hospital (there is also a private hospital which she would have been entitled to go to as well--this one was closer). When I got to the front desk I noticed a relatively empty waiting room. After filling out a HALF sheet of paper and providing her insurance card (seriously, there was literally NO paperwork), we waited for about 20 minutes, during which time the lady at the front desk must have apologized 3 times profusely for the wait.

We were finally seen by not 1 but 3 physicians. The first two immediately looked at my baby, very gently examined her, efficiently administered pain medication, and set her up for an X-ray. Not long afterwards, a nurse came to wheel her into the X-ray room---she had 2 films made, and then she was seen by the third physician who manipulated her elbow and presto, put her back together as good as new.

The whole experience took about an hour once we were seen. I could not see another patient in the ER although I did hear one baby cry. It was not jammed with people.

We left, and as always, I was busy being grateful for having insurance, wondering how much this would have cost us (nothing in Switzerland is cheap). I received the bill less than 2 weeks later (TWO WEEKS, can you imagine? When my daughter went to Children's Hospital in Los Angeles it took them MONTHS to send me a bill!).

The total bill (drum roll please) was approximately $210. That's it. The WHOLE experience cost my insurance company $210 and me $0.

Now let's ask ourselves, is it time to reevaluate our priorities, and begin learning from others?