Everyone agrees that healthcare in this country is in crisis, that it is unaffordable and unavailable to a large segment of the American population. Suggested solutions range from adopting a universal healthcare plan to lowering malpractice rates. But according to Richard Jackson, Chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare (http://www.jacksonhealthcare.com/) (JH), these are not solutions; they are merely band aids to treat the symptoms. The true problem, says Jackson, can be defined in two words — insurance companies. And Jackson’s provocative new proposal to resolve the healthcare crisis also involves insurance companies — eliminating them.
According to Jackson, insurance companies no longer provide value. “They need to be replaced with a more efficient system that significantly reduces unnecessary costs, passing those savings on to employers and patients,” says Jackson. “The new system must return physicians to the practice and control of medicine,” he adds, “while reinstating the relationship between doctors and their patients.” And Jackson’s bold new alternative plan, a national healthcare reimbursement system (HRS), would do just that.
It consists of eight major components (http://www.jacksonhealthcare.com/news/revamp-healthcare-system_102008.aspx?sc_cid=HRS):
Other proposed solutions for revamping America’s inefficient healthcare system abound. One popular so-called remedy is mandatory health insurance for all. But according to Jackson, guaranteed healthcare treats a symptom, not the problem. “Under today’s antiquated system, healthcare is neither efficient nor affordable, and making it mandatory isn’t going to change that,” says Jackson. Great advancements in medicine have been made, he adds, yet the system that manages it dates back to the 1980’s. “Technology now provides us the opportunity to return doctors to the practice of medicine, eliminate the middle man, improve the quality of healthcare and make it affordable and accessible to everyone,” he says. “And to the majority of Americans,” says Jackson, “that’s a solution that can’t come soon enough.”
For a more in depth look at Richard Jackson’s radical proposal for a national healthcare reimbursement system, please click here (http://www.jacksonhealthcare.com/news/revamp-healthcare-system_102008.aspx?sc_cid=HRS):
Are insurance companies really to blame for the health care crisis? This seems a simplistic solution to a difficult issue.
In the mean time, millions of not only Americans but also Canadians and Europeans are saying they have had enough and are taking their health care dollars and euros overseas. They are having medical operations done abroad in countries such as India and Thailand. Medical tourism has become an enormous industry in recent years and it looks like there are no signs of it lightening up. Rather, with the proliferation of new agencies to assist medical tourists in planning to have surgical procedures done overseas, it is becoming easier for people to save up to 75% on their elective surgeries while at the same time enjoying exotic excursions to the Taj Mahal as a bonus. Case in point: this new medical tourism website, Global Surgery Network.
