What our medical system needs are some new ideas if we want to reduce cost. This blog will detail my ideas.
It seems that many of our politicians want to promise "free medical for all". They see it as a "right". I don't exactly agree with this, but I agree that the cost of medical is far too high. Let's start of with the position that our government or us tax payers are going to have to put more money into medical, one way or the other. If that is the case, what is the best way to do that? Here is where my ideas come in.
It is my observation that the two major factors that have caused our medical costs to go up so much are:
(1) Defensive medicine cause by our "shark" legal system and unlimited liability.
(2) Cost and time required to become a medical doctor in the first place.
You only have to watch TV to see how lawyers are advertising for more customer so they can sue for more money mostly for themselves. Look at the what is happening to "Round-Up" herbicide after the big judgment recently against "Round-Up". It is the same with all kinds of different medicines. This causes the cost of all medicine to go up and it delays when good medicines get to the market. I know that one of the biggest lobby groups in Washington DC is the trial lawyers. If we want our medical costs to go down, we are going to have to limit the open season that lawyers now have.
I blogged before that it takes too long and costs too much for us to produce a medical doctor. If we import doctors, which we do to the extent of over 50%, they send much of their earnings back home and thus milk our economy in the process. The USA is the worst country in the world in terms of how many doctors we import or the low percentage of our doctors that we produce. That is a fact. We now have over 1.5 trillion dollars of loans out for college costs and many of those majors are worthless. We need medical doctors and engineers and we do not produce enough of those to meet our needs. Doctors have to charge high rates to get back the cost of their medical education. Rather than the tax payers paying the medial bills, why don't we pay for the medical school cost? I know that there are a lot of qualified students who opt out of medical school due to the high cost. If we would use our tax money to train our own doctors, we would not be giving it to foreign doctors who then remit much of it back to their home countries. That would help our economy at the same time.
The other thing that we could do would be to change our medical school system so that students could go directly into medical school out of high school. This would make more room in our colleges for engineering students while shortening the time to become a doctor. This means that they would be able to practise medicine for more years with the affect of increasing the number of our doctors.
I think that these ideas will end up lowering our medical cost and we need to start thinking about them. Think how we would be helping the rest of the world by not "stealing" their doctors? Think of how we would be helping our own economy by eliminating the remittance money that is going to other countries. Remittances are a major part of many country's economy! It is stealing! We need to use our tax money for free medical schools for our citizens, not to pay the medical bills. Think about it?
PS--President Trump now wants to give money to small businesses so they can buy health insurance for their workers. Why do we keep spending tax money on insurance when we should be thinking about lowering "medical costs"? Spend the money training our citizens to be doctors. It should be against the law to give scholarships paid for with tax money to non-citizens. Some states allow even illegal immigrants to pay in state tuition. I know of several very qualified young college graduates who opted "not" to go to medical school because of the high cost. Even though they may have made more as medical doctors, they would also be in a much higher tax bracket. We need to stop punishing kids who want to become medical doctors!
It seems that many of our politicians want to promise "free medical for all". They see it as a "right". I don't exactly agree with this, but I agree that the cost of medical is far too high. Let's start of with the position that our government or us tax payers are going to have to put more money into medical, one way or the other. If that is the case, what is the best way to do that? Here is where my ideas come in.
It is my observation that the two major factors that have caused our medical costs to go up so much are:
(1) Defensive medicine cause by our "shark" legal system and unlimited liability.
(2) Cost and time required to become a medical doctor in the first place.
You only have to watch TV to see how lawyers are advertising for more customer so they can sue for more money mostly for themselves. Look at the what is happening to "Round-Up" herbicide after the big judgment recently against "Round-Up". It is the same with all kinds of different medicines. This causes the cost of all medicine to go up and it delays when good medicines get to the market. I know that one of the biggest lobby groups in Washington DC is the trial lawyers. If we want our medical costs to go down, we are going to have to limit the open season that lawyers now have.
I blogged before that it takes too long and costs too much for us to produce a medical doctor. If we import doctors, which we do to the extent of over 50%, they send much of their earnings back home and thus milk our economy in the process. The USA is the worst country in the world in terms of how many doctors we import or the low percentage of our doctors that we produce. That is a fact. We now have over 1.5 trillion dollars of loans out for college costs and many of those majors are worthless. We need medical doctors and engineers and we do not produce enough of those to meet our needs. Doctors have to charge high rates to get back the cost of their medical education. Rather than the tax payers paying the medial bills, why don't we pay for the medical school cost? I know that there are a lot of qualified students who opt out of medical school due to the high cost. If we would use our tax money to train our own doctors, we would not be giving it to foreign doctors who then remit much of it back to their home countries. That would help our economy at the same time.
The other thing that we could do would be to change our medical school system so that students could go directly into medical school out of high school. This would make more room in our colleges for engineering students while shortening the time to become a doctor. This means that they would be able to practise medicine for more years with the affect of increasing the number of our doctors.
I think that these ideas will end up lowering our medical cost and we need to start thinking about them. Think how we would be helping the rest of the world by not "stealing" their doctors? Think of how we would be helping our own economy by eliminating the remittance money that is going to other countries. Remittances are a major part of many country's economy! It is stealing! We need to use our tax money for free medical schools for our citizens, not to pay the medical bills. Think about it?
PS--President Trump now wants to give money to small businesses so they can buy health insurance for their workers. Why do we keep spending tax money on insurance when we should be thinking about lowering "medical costs"? Spend the money training our citizens to be doctors. It should be against the law to give scholarships paid for with tax money to non-citizens. Some states allow even illegal immigrants to pay in state tuition. I know of several very qualified young college graduates who opted "not" to go to medical school because of the high cost. Even though they may have made more as medical doctors, they would also be in a much higher tax bracket. We need to stop punishing kids who want to become medical doctors!
