How To Eliminate Waste In U.S. Health Care
Most people have a suspicion that a significant portion of healthcare costs in America are wasted. Now, a new report from Thomson Reuters has proven them right. Almost one-third of medical expenditures each year, up to $850 million, is wasted on things such as unnecessary care, disorganized paperwork, and fraud. Reducing these costs would have a significant impact on the cost of health insurance. There are fewer primary care physicians who must fill out more paperwork and hire more clerical help; this is in contrast to most other industrialized nations. The report found several ways to reduce wasteful spending on healthcare:
- Reduce repetitive paperwork and other inefficiencies by switching over to electronic records. Keeping records electronically through services like Google Health will make it easier to share patients’ medical history between physicians and specialists, therefore avoiding overspending on inappropriate treatments or duplicate tests. The current paper-based system needs to evolve with the times.
- Do more to combat health insurance fraud. Nearly a quarter of wasted health care costs is spent on scams like referral kickbacks and Medicare fraud. Increased funding for enforcement of existing fraud regulations would be a good investment in the long run.
- Enact medical malpractice reform as soon as possible. While there are certainly instances in which negligence on the part of doctors and hospitals results in tragic circumstances that need to be compensated for, some trial lawyers have gone too far in an attempt to protect patients. Fearing the prospect of paying out millions of dollars in judgments, physicians often order unneeded lab tests and over-prescribe antibiotics. One might say it’s better to be safe than sorry, but their caution has cost our healthcare system up to $300 billion per year.
- Practice more preventative medicine. Millions of Americans suffer from preventable diseases that, in total, cost billions to treat. If chronic conditions like diabetes were caught early and avoided through lifestyle changes, it would save $30-$50 billion yearly.
- Require more and better training for doctors and other medical professionals. 11% of wasted health care spending is on medical mistakes. Insurers have to pay twice for a single procedure in order to fix those mistakes. If doctors did their job better the first time, these costs would be reduced.
These recommendations should be included in the healthcare reform bill going through Congress, as they would surely result in lower costs for any health insurance plan. Supporters of a public option could also use these suggestions as a road map to finding the money to cover such a program. Other countries with a similar government-run insurance program already follow similar strategies. Eliminating waste in the health care system would go a long way towards paying for the projected $1 trillion cost of the comprehensive reform bill, although it would also be beneficial for private insurers’ profit margins. However, these changes will probably see resistance from those individuals and groups accustomed to the status quo.
(Image: Alarzy under CC 2.0)
Watch the video related to health care reform bill
July 25, 2009 3:19 am 
By Tracy Turnblad, July 25, 2009 @ 4:51 am
First of all, Obama wants to make insurance more available to all and change the system so that it is cheaper. He also wants change so that the insurance companies find it harder to get out of paying for treatment. The system he is proposing looks similar to that which works in Holland and Switzerland where private companies are involved in providing insurance.
Second, of course universal health-cover sucks. That is why we in Western Europe have it. We think, hmm, our healthcare system sucks. I know, lets keep it. I guess that is the same with Japan and Canada as well.
Third, Obama campaigned on reforming the healthcare system. He said he wanted to make insurance more available and he was elected by the American people to do this.
FACT – the US has higher death rates for kids both for kids aged under one and those under five than western European countries with universal health coverage.
FACT – American insurance companies push up prices and work to stop paying out claims on those they cover.
FACT – the USA spends more on healthcare PER PERSON than any other nation on the planet.
That means that a dead American four year old would have had a better chance of life if they were born in Canada, France, Cuba, Germany, Japan etc, all of which have universal health coverage.
Last of all if you do not like the policies that Obama was elected to bring in, he can always be voted out of office in 2012.
By TomStar81, July 25, 2009 @ 5:00 am
Yes you are talking about TORT reform. the Democrats do not want to touch the Lawyers. it seems the Lawyers are in the democrats pocket.*
By skinnyblink7, July 25, 2009 @ 5:01 am
the new york times has an interactive feature which is actually very clear to understand. check it out.
By URL Shortener, July 25, 2009 @ 4:20 am
dude, you own! this looks identical to a photograph
By Youtube Downloader, July 25, 2009 @ 4:24 am
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By Short, Fast, and Loud, July 25, 2009 @ 8:03 pm
Obama does not have a bill. He has only given guidelines to what he wants. His last address made it more specific.
The bills in congress are not healthcare bills. They are health coverage bills. The government is trying to take control of a large portion of our economy. They are trying to make it so the government is a single payer source (I know i will get thumbs down for this, but follow hr3200 to its logical conclusion).
The current bills want to cover everybody in the US (Illegals too, there is nothing in these bills to prevent illegals from being covered. Amendments to ensure citizenship were tabled)
The federal government wants to punish you for not having insurance (they will get your money one way or another)
The government wants to regulate what care you will get. (When the system becomes overblaoted as any government system does, they will have 2 options increase taxes or ration care)
I know that there are a lot of people that will disagree with this. If they actually read the bills, and follow to there logical conclusions, in 10 years we will be a whole lot worse of than we are now. So doing nothing would actually be cheaper.
Reform must actually deal with the underlaying problems. HR 320o does not. Obama gave lip service to 1 of them.
By Anonymous, July 26, 2009 @ 11:11 am
HOLY CRAP! Comparing this to the original picture, they’re identical!
By Youtube Downloader, July 26, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
awesome stuff man,….ama practice hard to get to yo level!
By The Conservative Resistance, July 27, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
Under any Democrat President in history, the same M.O. emerges.
The Democrats "identify" a "crisis" and whip the people up into a frenzy about it. They proclaim themselves the carriers of the elixir that will heroically save all mankind from this "crisis.'' When Republicans seek to oppose the spending it will take for this elixir, they are automatically called hate mongers and obstructionists.
Clinton tried it with school lunch menus. He whipped that whole thing into some kind of "crisis." The Democrats wanted to raise the program by 10% and the Republicans wanted to raise it by 7%. That got reported in the media as a 3% CUT by Republicans. Only when a Democrat is President could an INCREASE be reported as a CUT. Just to make Republicans look bad, but too many people buy into the bullshit.
Al Gore, who wasn't even President, tried it with global warming and it didn't work. Today, it's health care. What'll it be tomorrow? The whole "world is ending in 2012" thing, or what?