NEW AMERICAN MODEL OF HEALTH CARE PROVISION
Given these rising costs, it’s not surprising that something had to happen. Because the practice of medicine has changed so radically in the last 50 years, I like to think that today’s health care reform is not a revolution but a natural evolution in the history of health care in America. The purpose of health care reform is to provide the best possible care for all Americans and to guarantee everyone equal access to care without driving our nation into bankruptcy from the expense. Right now, I and many other doctors think the current system provides too much care. In other words, most of us agree it needs an overhaul.
Any reform plan must be fair to the three groups that are involved in health care. They are:
1. Purchasers of health care. This includes the government, the insurance industry, and you and me. Within this group, there are direct purchasers, like insurance companies, who pay for health care directly; uninsured people who must pay health care providers themselves; and indirect purchasers, who pay premiums to the insurance company.
2. Providers of health care. This includes doctors, nurses, hospital workers, and nonprofessionals in the health care system, as well as the insurance companies that administer the system.
3. Consumers of health care. This consists of the people who use health care in this country—which includes every American—and who expect their care to be of top quality.
Needless to say, there is some overlap among all the groups; for instance, the health care consumer may also be a direct or indirect purchaser and may even help to provide the care.
You also should realize, however, that many of the changes I discuss below are already taking place in various parts of the country without benefit of federal legislation. Many individual states as well as local health care markets are dictating the needed changes because they see them as something that will benefit all three groups in the health care system.
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