EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

I have been the office manager for an acupuncturist, who is a preferred provider for Group Health, First Choice, Premera Blue Cross and others, for over six and a half years. My family has been using Group Health Options for seven years. I have written several books on economics and politics. I bring a unique perspective to solving the health care dilemma.

The following is a summary of my suggestions to resolve the health care crisis.

1. The only crisis in the health care industry is the call for nationalizing it. It's in a mess due to government regulations and inflation. Medicare, the medical profession, uneducated consumers, astronomical malpractice suits, and skyrocketing drug costs. If health care is nationalized, the system will be broken. (Medicare should be voluntary.)
2. The A.M.A. is a barrier to healthcare. The entire medical industry, from colleges to research to doctors, needs to study the principles of health, not diseases. That's why the U.S. spends more than other countries on health care and has poorer health.
3. The drug companies need to stop selling drugs by hyping the public with expensive advertising campaigns, adding to the cost of insurance.
4. Health care consumers should be rated just like cars. There is greater risk insuring someone who doesn't take care of himself and his rates should reflect that. There needs to be an incentive to take care of oneself. Doctors can contribute to this incentive by monitoring patients' statistics and reporting them to the insurance company where they can be rated. Doctors need to practice and teach health principles and to educate their patients.
5. Malpractice suits need to be capped since lawyer's appetites are insatiable.
6. Patients, as well as doctors, need to be educated on the differences between the many alternative medical choices, what they are for and when to use them.
7. Consumers need to be given a simple, concise list of their benefits in easy-tounderstand terms.

These suggestions will help fix the system. If you want to nationalize health care, then simply admit it. But if the goal is to improve the system, extensive work on everyone's part is necessary. Government must repeal the strangulating regulations it has on the industry, such as the HIPAA law, for example, which I believe is an invasion of privacy. It serves no real purpose. It is a classical example of government expanding its power with useless legislation, resulting in higher medical costs.

I've revised your Health Care Magna Carta and your Terms and Conditions of Contest with correct economic principles. The way is now paved for real progress toward solving the health care dilemma. The only true crisis is the call for nationalizing health care. The industry is still serving most of us quite well. Applying my ideas and suggestions will insure that the health care industry remains free and competitive to continue to serve us. Government is the main cause of our problems and shouldn't be depended on for solutions. Let us not kill the health care industry, but keep it free along with our freedom of choices.

The solution isn't political--it's ethical. It calls for honesty and integrity at all levels--government, consumers, providers, businesses, media, and taxpayers--everyone!

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