They used to call this "Put the consumers on driver's seat". We might call it "American Dream Health Plan", and let the consumers decide whether this is a dream or a nightmare.
Chunhuei
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寄件者: Anglo-American Health Policy Network [[log in to unmask]] 代表 Uwe E. Reinhardt [[log in to unmask]]
寄件日期: 2011年10月27日 上午 08:39
收件者: [log in to unmask]
主旨: Re: News from the US of A
David:
Close. That would work.
But here’s my solution to this problem, inspired by a certain blog (to give proper credit).
If we abolished Medicaid, the former beneficiaries would buy private health insurance.
To offer these poor folks affordable policies, private insurers necessarily would have to put strict upper limits on physician visits, mental health care, hospital admissions and –days, drug usage, etc., along, of course, with high deductibles up front and stiff coinsurance in between. One could thus craft pretty cheap policies that poor people could afford, and those who bought them would no longer be “uninsured,” which would be cool.
Because these upper limits, deductibles and coinsurance would be imposed by private insurers, we would not call it rationing. Instead, we would call it “customizing insurance policies to meet the preferences of the insured” and “managing care.”
Quid est to be solved (forgot the Latin).
How’s that for consumer empowerment?
Uwe
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On Oct 27, 2011, at 4:27 PM, "Uwe E. Reinhardt" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-10-23/states-limit-medicaid-hospital-stays/50886398/1>http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2011-10-23/states-limit-medicaid-hospital-stays/50886398/1
If this happened in the UK, it would be rationing. Because do not ration health care in America, it is something else.
Contest: What should we call it?
Best,
Uwe
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