> Dana wrote: > > doctors are not innovators, Gruss, almost by definition. And it's not > clear to me that 500 billion in the hands of consumers would get spent > on medical needs. Some would, but not all. >
Ah, but they are. Look into the business arrangements they have with their clinics, hospitals, labs, pharma companies, et al and you're going to see A LOT of innovation. That's the concept that always gets in the way: doctors are benevolent healers who only care about the patient. But even if we say that's true, there are plenty of innovators willing to do that FOR doctors. For example, Judah isn't an MD but he's innovating to bring costs down working with them. As to the $500 million, you provide it in HSAs so that it can ONLY be spent on gated healthcare products and services. The problem I'm getting at with by mentioning Minute Clinic is the other big in-the-way concept: People don't get healthcare because they can't afford it. BZZZZ, wrong. How many people on this list could have free preventative health care but don't take advantage of it? More than zero. How about have skipped the free dentist in a few years? More than zero I'll wager. Unfortunately our concept of health is built around the crisis and emergency, NOT around "healthcare". So doctors aren't all do-gooders and many people with free health care STILL don't use it. Again, just like eliminating insurance won't solve the core problem (so it must not be insurance), even providing free healthcare won't solve the costs problem. The only useful reason to cover everyone at this point is to simply get a total understanding of the costs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298637 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
