Building an American Health System
Executive Summary

A National Health Care System is viewed as something that is limiting, for the type of care to be delivered, and socialistic, for the type of control it would provide over health care. National Health Care would actually allow the American people and the health care providers who care for them to have more control over their health and their healthcare outcomes. Health care is held to a commodities-type of trade system and health care should never be treated as a commodity. Health care should be a right, a guarantee for all Americans. We live our lives believing that there are only two guarantees in this life, death and taxes-it is time to add a third, healthcare.

Heath care delivery as a system is the broken cog in this wheel; to fix it we have to address the whole system and fix it from the ground level up. Health care as a right will require some sacrifice from all; however at the end of the day we as Americans will be able to walk into any health care arena and receive the care that we are entitled to.

The plan that I envision for an American Health System is built using a systems approach, as it was outlined by Donella Meadows in two of her papers---Places to Intervene in a System and Dancing with Systems, and using parts of three visions/plans for an American Health System. These visions/plans are The Belmont Vision for Health Care in America, the O'Connor Report Health Care Magna Carta, and the Institute of Medicine-Crossing the Quality Chasm. These three visions/plans were taken and enclosed on both sides by Donella Meadows thoughts on where to change a system to affect it forever and how to adjust your plan if the system resists. (A copy of this interaction of systems is attached as Attachment 1)

A new health system needs to be patient and provider controlled, government financed-through a health income tax, and have joint oversight from the government and an independent health entity such as the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences.

Changing employment would not affect the basic health care coverage because the employer would no longer be in the health insurance business. All Americans would have a health care card and the need for filling out insurance papers prior to care would be eliminated. Health care data will be maintained in a national computer system so that no matter where you are in the United States, your basic health history can be accessed and used in your treatment by any physician or clinician.

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