Supply Side Solutions to Health Care Crunch?
I know there is a lot of contention about government funding an increased portion of medical costs at the moment. Putting that aside, lets think about supply and demand. I assume most of you with even a basic grasp of economics will agree that increasing the supply of medicine will make medicine more affordable for everybody. What do you think about the following options to increase the supply of medical services?
1 Allow more certifications of universities to offer medical degrees. They would of course have to meet standards, but more doctors need to be trained.
2 Allow more doctors educated over seas in non US accredited programs to practice medicine here…After they have proven through testing to be competent.
3 Allow more lower tier medical professionals do some of the more rudimentary work doctors do now. Do you really need to pay a doctor $300 an hour to do some stitches a nurse ends up doing anyhow?
4 Allow more drugs to be OTC rather than by prescription only which would save us the need of a $300 doctor visit to get a prescription for a $30 medication our pharmacist could tell us all about.
5 Legal reform that protects doctors so they don’t have to recommend testing that is primarily ordered to shield them against litigation.
6 Up front quotes. Doctors and hospitals would have to give you a relatively accurate quote about what various services will cost prior to giving those services (when at all possible).
November 24th, 2009 at 8:45 am
exactly my thoughts Joe
November 25th, 2009 at 2:54 am
I think the “supply side solution” to America’s health care problem would be to give all the money to the rich people and wait for it to trickle down to the rest of us in the form of health care. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that one to work. Free At Last
November 26th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
You want to lower the standards and protect them from malpractice because of their substandard performances.
Thats what most of expect from Obama’s plan. Ron T
November 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
1 dumb down the doctors and nurses
2 have doctors that don’t understand the language
3 we’ve already dumbed down the nurses
4 there are already too many people addicted to prescription drugs in this country
5 there are many bad doctors already
6 bingo, there is no truth in healthcare costs, insurance does not pay 80% or any percentage, they contract rates, its a shame. perflexed
December 1st, 2009 at 6:13 pm
1 Marginal or no effect.
2 This would work if each doctor was a commodity but each doctor added is more like a business. If reimbursement rates are cut, doctor find other ways to maintain their revenues: perform more tests, see more patients or leave the medical field.
3 This might work depending on the professionals chosen. Your example does not work. If you get stitches at a doctor’s office, the office will bill for the procedure. Regardless who does it the price is the same.
4 Yes
5 No. It helps with a doctor’s profit margin. Texas tried this and it has not helped. Doctor still order more tests.
6 If you are self-pay, then ,yes, this will be effective. Kiran C