EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The greatest obstacle is the big business attitude that has consumed our healthcare industry , and the power that it bestows upon its owners. The attempt to run healthcare like a big business has crippled the ability of the medical field to care for its patients, for as patients certainly know - healthcare is not big business - it is every breath we take.

It sadly must be acknowledge that it is not feasible to provide all care to all people. We have tried valiantly in this country to feed and provide healthcare for all, but the poor and the sick have remained amongst us. But we can certainly be better, for we have been in the past.

Good healthcare begins with responsibility. Nothing is more effective or powerful than people assuming responsibility for their selves. Therefore, the main proposal in this healthcare plan is to restore responsibility to those for whom it is most critical - the patient. This main emphasis for this is to restore the physician-patient connection, instead of the current system of physician-business-patient. Healthcare is not big business; it is personal and essential.

Responsibility will include prevention. More emphasis needs to be placed into areas of medicine other than pharmaceuticals. A more holistic view must be taken of the patients' health, including prior to any serious illnesses. This type of current research into areas that the medical field does not usually tread needs to become a part of the medical education of our physicians. In addition, prevention needs to exist in more tests and health care for early detection, such as cancer screenings and preventive checks.

PROPOSAL

It is, therefore, proposed that healthcare be restored to a "tub" system wherein healthcare office and clinics function as single entities, which retain the right to oversee and make decisions regarding the patient, which definitely includes the physician.

Nobody will ever bear the concern for healthcare more than those who need it; therefore the main emphasis of this proposal is that patients will be responsible for the reimbursement process. The incentive to the patient will be fostered by the establishment of medical spending accounts of several thousand dollars, for people who are on either employer or governmental programs However, a small portion of the employers' contribution will be used to purchase catastrophic health insurance for employees for costs that exceed $10,000. Otherwise, the patient is solely responsible for any healthcare under that value with whichhe can administer payments from his medical spending account.

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