Healthcare for US

Executive Summary

Envision an American healthcare system that befits the world leader - a system which sets the standard for leading edge care, education, choice, inclusion, accountability, efficient administration, quality care, and patient satisfaction, in an openly cooperative and competitive system delivered through a universally accessible platform.

The healthcare system envisioned above cannot be achieved with mere visualization of the desired ends. Concrete actions must be taken to achieve such a system so that the next generation of Americans can take for granted the delivery of the world's most superior healthcare system.

Broadly defined, the O'Connor Health Care Magna Carta tenets can be grouped into several baskets of issues:

1. Universal participation of all Americans in healthcare decisions, access, responsibility for wise use, self- and family-education, and funding;
2. Redesign of the risk pool so that all participants can get quality essential service, yet none can go bankrupt due to catastrophic events, including questioning both the curious relationship between employment status and healthcare coverage and the relationship between annual benefits and lifetime healthcare requirements; and
3. Responsibility of oversight bodies (such as government and healthcare institutions) for upholding quality, furthering education, ensuring equality in the benefits and burdens of inclusion, and responsiveness to the valuable and ever-changing input and feedback of healthcare consumers.

Overarching the above three issues would be the need for a platform for efficient delivery of such a system.

Proposal:

1. Design of an Amazon.com-type web based platform for the US healtlicare system to allow universal access (by patients as well as healthcare professionals, insurance and government), portability, privacy, education, interaction, confidentiality, convenience, aggregation of records, facilitation of financial flows, and multi-lisigual capabilities;
2. Wholesale redistribution of healthcare funding through a mechanism similar to value-addedtaxation in the form of a food HAT (healthcare-added-tax) -- at an initial 40.2% rate -- with concurrent replacement of the present concept of basic health insurance (predominantly employment-related or solo-sourced) with a national risk pool;
3. Categorization of health care (and communication of associated financial responsibility) into preventative, essential, catastrophic and elective tiers with (1) preventative, essential, and catastrophic coverage for all citizens, (2) essential benefits based on cumulative lifetime amounts as opposed to annual increments, and (3) benefits independent of employment status; and
4. Action by government and medical institutions to oversee the system, ensure confidentiality and security, represent the unreachable or incapacitated population, provide public service announcements and information for consumers, and be responsive to the wealth of information at the system's disposal (to ensure a feedback loop contributes to best practices).

The above proposal is simple and applied uniformly. Initial migration to this system will not be easy; it is not in human nature to welcome change. This proposal sets forth a mechanism for its own continual improvement - an interactive platform; a mechanism for funding a national healthcare system whereby all citizens can participate in both the benefits and contributions and responsibilities; a framework for the classification of services and associated financial responsibility; and defines the critical role government and healthcare institutions must play in delivery and quality. The Healthcare for US plan provides the platform and means for all parties to take responsibility for their role in America's future health care system.

Healthcare for US: The health of nations is more important than the wealth of nations.

Vision Statement

Envision an American healthcare system that befits the world leader - a system which sets the standard for leading edge care, education, choice, inclusion, accountability, efficient administration, quality care, and patient satisfaction, in an openly cooperative and competitive system delivered through a universally accessible platform.

Introduction

The healthcare system envisioned above cannot be achieved with mere visualization of the desired ends. Concrete actions must be taken to achieve such a system so that the next generation of Americans can take for granted the delivery of the world's most superior healthcare system.

The 0'Connor Health Care Magna cartal has laid out the tenets necessary for achieving such a system. Below is outlined a mechanism for delivery of such a system.

Issues & Remedies

Broadly defined, the 0'Connor Health Care Magna Carta tenets can be grouped into several baskets of issues:

1. Universal participation of all Americans in healthcare decisions, access, responsibility for wise use, self- and family-education, and funding;
2. Redesign of the risk pool so that all participants can get quality essential service, yet none can go bankrupt due to catastrophic events, including questioning both the curious relationship between employment status and healthcare coverage and the relationship between annual benefits and lifetime healthcare requirements; and

Author's synopsis of the 10 Tenets of the 0'Connor Health Care Mapna Carta:

1. Consumer participation
2. Contribution to cost of service
3. Availability to all
4. Catastrophic coverage
5. Relation of healthcare to employment
6. Single national risk pool
7. Access to information
8. CentralizatiordOversight
9. Funding
10. Responsibility

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