Want To Cut Health Care Costs? Stop Focusing On The Prestige Of Our Doctors And Hospitals
January 28, 2016
America spends more on its military than all other countries in the world and the same goes for its health care. There are many complex reasons why we choose to be the lead spenders in these industries, but there's also one simple reason. Prestige. We want the world to know we have the biggest and best military and the greatest doctors using the best medical technology available. This is so important to us that we are willing to pay any amount of money for it. This attitude would be somewhat logical if we could support it with data showing our investments are paying off, but that is not the case with health care.
Health Care Should Be High Quality, Not High Status
We don't all have a direct connection to the military but we all need health care at some point in our lives. Health care is a universal need. Consequently, there's no reason why we can't or should not share the limelight and financial responsibility for medical and drug research and innovation with the world. And there is no reason why we should pay our doctors so much more than other doctors around the world. Or equip every major hospital with the latest in medical tech... The goals of good health and healing are the same the world over. A doctor is a doctor and a hospital is a hospital? Right?
Americans Are Health Care Snobs
It's a well-documented fact that Americans have shorter life spans than other industrialized nations despite the fact that we pay so much more for health care than any other country. Surprisingly, some Americans outright dispute this fact or believe they can explain most of the difference in life span and costs. Most of these explanations point the finger at different groups.
- Blacks and Hispanics are a huge burden on our health care system because of their obesity, chronic disease and poverty issues
- Violence in minority and low-income communities
- Health insurance company profits
- Big pharma profits
Countering The Price of Prestige
Despite concerns about the decreasing autonomy of doctors, being a doctor in America is still a big deal. Every parent wants a doctor in the family. Most people think that being a doctor means you are brilliant—despite the evidence of Ben Carson. And millions of people think that doctors deserve large salaries to compensate for their years of schooling and sacrifice.
In sum, the status of the medical profession may be changing and being a doctor may be challenging, but being a doctor will always be prestigious in America. And doctors and hospitals will continue to make us pay more than is reasonable for their services to maintain their professional status. Really, the only way to save on American health care is to get health care somewhere else.
- Instead of having individual medical tourism, travel health insurance or limited international health insurance plans for global travelers, we need international health insurance plans for all Americans
- Instead of U.S.-based mail order prescription drug programs only, we need international mail order prescription drug programs
- Instead of focusing on selling health insurance across state lines where American doctors and hospitals still charge more than the rest of the world, sell across the world
- Instead of paying doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies whatever price they choose to charge, pay them based on salaries and charges for the same services in similarly high-cost countries like the UK, France, Switzerland, etc.
American doctors and hospitals hide behind a veil of prestige that allows them to charge whatever they want for their services. Despite evidence to support the assertion that they offer the best services in the world, Americans willingly pay more and receive less for these services. The opportunity to receive regulated care outside the U.S. is the only way for Americans to save on health care.
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Denise Perkins
