Change.gov & You

LINKS:

http://change.gov/

Interactive Health Care Discussion:

http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/join_the_discussion_daschles_healthcare_resp...

My comment:

I believe that it is absolutely critical that any heath care method include a strict yet explicitly fair patient evaluation system. Note that I do not mean any system that can be misused for the purpose of discrimination based on arbitrary factors (ethnicity, religion, genealogy, economic status, etc).

Health care is personal, therefore it should be treated in a highly personal manner, but due to the sheer volume of people who require health care it is also essential that service is prioritized and distributed in an intelligent and economically viable way. At this point patient evaluation becomes a necessity.

Clearly a balance is needed between a dumb blanket approach, and smart pinpoint heath care. I suggest a service cost threshold based, two tier system. Tier one being a general health care policy that everyone is entitled to, that covers all low cost yet common health care needs. And tier two being a specialized heath care policy which can only be acquired after a very comprehensive patient evaluation.

According to all the metrics that I've reviewed, all social systems only work when there is a very conscious balance between punishment and rewards. People who knowingly abuse themselves should not receive high-cost public financed heath care. Likewise, people who knowingly take good care of themselves should receive high-cost public financed heath care.

This is a simple concept, but very hard to legislate. I think it constitutes the difference between a system that will succeed and one that will fail. Typically politicians and the political process will ignore or sidestep this controversial issue because of the obvious implications. However, doing so is no different than turning a blind eye to a great and arbitrary injustice.

Feedback is appreciated.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ChangeDotGov
• change.gov
• barack
• obama
• president
• elect
• heathcare
• health
• care
• discussion
• policy
• tom
• daschle
• senator
• secretary
• department
• human
• services

[Tinkeltown2]

You're getting very close to the Nazi efforts to create a pure race. I don't think I want to discuss this further with you.

[neotoy]

Whoa! Hold on there a minute. "modify your position to include inherited medical problems." your words, not mine.

So let me get this straight. You think that it's acceptable for someone with HIV for example, to have children, and consequently pass the virus to them, so that they are effectively born with a terminal illness?

Call me a fascist if you want, but I could never support that kind of behavior. No one should be forced to be born with a disease, that's just not right.

[Tinkeltown2]

Interesting concept. Hard to implement. At least it puts the emphasis on disease prevention rather than concentrating on providing drugs to cure the disease afterwards.

But modify your position to include inherited medical problems.

[neotoy]

I think genealogy is left to another debate.

That being said.. people do not choose to be born, or to inherit genetic defects, it seems unfair to punish them retroactively. I would find it far more prudent to punish those who knowingly possess hereditary genetic defects and yet still choose to procreate. In my mind this is no different than intentionally infecting an innocent person with an incurable disease and should carry a severe penalty, perhaps a total revocation of health care benefits.

[AzraelsJudgement]

People need to change how they view nutrition and health. Healthy bodies means eating real food and getting proper vitamins and minerals. There are no magic pills and surgeries. Our bodies were not designed to handle so much fat, salt, sugar and chemicals. Not to mention inactivity.

I may do it for fun.

[neotoy]

You won't hear any argument from me on nutrition or heath. But even if we started right now, it would take a considerable amount of time to revert agriculture to a saner model. First the current consumption model must be challenge and broken down; then people would need to be reeducated/informed out of their profound ignorance.

[neotoy]

Thanks, hopefully they will actually listen to what people have to say and the good ideas will rise to the top.. Although it's been my experience that typically politicians pretend to listen and then just do whatever they want. Go democracy!

[FeelFreeToArgue]

And you have some very interesting ideas about health care.

I think govt officials often resist defining what the minimum standard of health care is because that puts a hard bottom beyond which they can't cut, and they don't want to do that. This is why I think the minimum wage is so contentious.

People do not want to be held accountable for their personal decisions - but you're right, they should be.

[FeelFreeToArgue]

Interesting idea. I'll go check it out. Thanks for posting this.