America′s Health Care Crisis Solved

<p>Preface xiii</p>
<p>Introduction xvii</p>
<p>PART 1 REALITIES</p>
<p>Chapter 1 No Money, No Health Care 3</p>
<p>Who Can Afford to Get Sick? 3</p>
<p>A Helicopter View of Health Care Financing 4</p>
<p>The Good Bad News 5</p>
<p>No More Business as Usual 6</p>
<p>Chapter 2 Why the Money s Running Out 9</p>
<p>No Room at the Inn 9</p>
<p>Standard Operating Procedure 10</p>
<p>The Motive Is Profit 11</p>
<p>The Problem Is Greed 12</p>
<p>On the Front Lines with Nora Johnson 13</p>
<p>Chapter 3 A New Scarlet Letter 21</p>
<p>A Lady in Red 21</p>
<p>Who Are the Uninsured? 22</p>
<p>The Danger of Secondhand Smoke 23</p>
<p>Injustice for All 23</p>
<p>Chapter 4 Why Nationalized Health Care Is No Cure–All 27</p>
<p>The HMO Idea 27</p>
<p>An Idea Rejected 28</p>
<p>Phoenix Rising? 28</p>
<p>HillaryCare II 29</p>
<p>O Canada 33</p>
<p>The Cost of Inefficiency 35</p>
<p>God Save the Queen 36</p>
<p>Look No Further 37</p>
<p>New York, New York 37</p>
<p>Florida, Here We Come 38</p>
<p>The Evidence Speaks 39</p>
<p>PART II STRATEGIES</p>
<p>Chapter 5 Fair Care 43</p>
<p>Three Keys to Make Fair Care Work 45</p>
<p>Congressional Action 47</p>
<p>Two Crucial Points on Fair Care 48</p>
<p>Fair Care Effect on Employers 48</p>
<p>Fair Care Effect on Employees 48</p>
<p>The State of the Union Proposal 48</p>
<p>Chapter 6 Give Seniors What They Want (and Save Money Doing It): An Innovative Approach to Medicare 51</p>
<p>Part D of Medicare: Prescription Drugs for Seniors 52</p>
<p>The Future of Medicare 53</p>
<p>Defining the Terms 53</p>
<p>Drug Money 54</p>
<p>An Unfunded Mandate 55</p>
<p>A Bureaucratic Snafu 55</p>
<p>Cost Comparison 56</p>
<p>Saving the U.S. Treasury Money 59</p>
<p>How Much Could Our Country Save? 60</p>
<p>Give Seniors What They Want 61</p>
<p>Too Good to Be True? 61</p>
<p>How Much Money in Each Senior s Hands? 62</p>
<p>Chapter 7 Give Control to Consumers through HSAs 65</p>
<p>Back to the Future 65</p>
<p>One Experience 66</p>
<p>HSAs Today 67</p>
<p>A Quick Overview 67</p>
<p>Health Care Freedom 69</p>
<p>A Dollar–for–Dollar Comparison 70</p>
<p>The Best Interest of the Consumer 70</p>
<p>An IRA on Steroids 72</p>
<p>The Truth Be Told 73</p>
<p>A Word about Family Deductibles 76</p>
<p>Republicans versus Democrats 76</p>
<p>A Legitimate HSA Weakness 79</p>
<p>Three Mistakes Employers Make 79</p>
<p>A Response to Mr. Rangel 81</p>
<p>What Does the Evidence Say? 82</p>
<p>A Side Note 83</p>
<p>What Congress Still Needs to Do 83</p>
<p>Chapter 8 Establish Fair Medical Prices 87</p>
<p>Which Price Tag? 87</p>
<p>What s a Reasonable Price? 89</p>
<p>What Can We Conclude? 91</p>
<p>How to Defend Yourself against Hospital Harassment 91</p>
<p>What s a UB–04 or a UB–92? 95</p>
<p>Where to Get the Medicare Information 96</p>
<p>Now You re a Royal Pain 97</p>
<p>Sounds Good, But Does It Work? 98</p>
<p>Do You Need a Lawyer? 99</p>
<p>The Key to Health Care Reform 99</p>
<p>Chapter 9 Make Medical Prices Transparent: An Innovative Approach to Pricing Health Care 101</p>
<p>Between a Rock and a Hard Place 101</p>
<p>Why Not Be Honest? 102</p>
<p>Cost Reporting 102</p>
<p>Truth Detector 103</p>
<p>Do Hospitals Lose Money on the Uninsured? 103</p>
<p>Who s Losing Money? 104</p>
<p>Are We Really Too Dumb to Understand? 104</p>
<p>What Needs to Change 105</p>
<p>Legislation Now Pending 106</p>
<p>Medicare Starts to Move 107</p>
<p>And Not Just the Hospitals 107</p>
<p>Chapter 10 Build Risk Pools: An Innovative Approach to Individual Health Insurance 109</p>
<p>New York State of Mind 109</p>
<p>No Picnic in the Garden State 110</p>
<p>Ferrari Pricing 113</p>
<p>One Way to Cope 114</p>
<p>Compassion versus Common Sense 114</p>
<p>Casting the Net 115</p>
<p>Double Incentive 115</p>
<p>The Problem for Small Businesses 117</p>
<p>A Future Answer for Small Businesses 117</p>
<p>A More Immediate Answer 118</p>
<p>List Bill 118</p>
<p>The Rest of the Story 119</p>
<p>Chapter 11 Build a National Marketplace: An Innovative Approach to Individual Health Insurance 121</p>
<p>Do You eBay? 122</p>
<p>Nothing Matters More 122</p>
<p>Roadblocks to Freedom 123</p>
<p>Health Care Choice Act 124</p>
<p>Not in My Backyard 124</p>
<p>An Idea for the People 125</p>
<p>Let s Get It Done 125</p>
<p>Chapter 12 Make Basic Health Care Cheaper and More Convenient: An Innovative Approach to Health Care Delivery 127</p>
<p>What Is a Quick Care Clinic? 128</p>
<p>The Customer Is King 129</p>
<p>Calling Dr. Nurse 129</p>
<p> You ve Got Care 130</p>
<p>Chapter 13 Do It Right the First Time: An Innovative Approach to Wellness 131</p>
<p>Dr. Paul Ellwood 131</p>
<p>The Right Goal 132</p>
<p>The Right Kind of Competition 132</p>
<p>It Is Your Health 133</p>
<p>Lose the Gatekeepers 133</p>
<p>Get Well Soon 134</p>
<p>Chapter 14 Wrapping It All Up 135</p>
<p>Appendix A Public Testimony of Dr. Gerard Anderson 137</p>
<p>Appendix B Memorandum of Case Law Precedents Showing Hospitals Can Charge Only Reasonable Prices 151</p>
<p>Appendix C An Example of a Legal Complaint against a Hospital for Unreasonable Charges 155</p>
<p>Appendix D Executive Order: Promoting Quality and Efficient Health Care in Federal Government–Administered or –Sponsored Health Care Programs 169</p>
<p>Appendix E S.173, Medicare Savings Account Legislation Introduced by U.S. Senator Inhofe (R–OK) and U.S. Senator DeMint (R–SC) 173</p>
<p>Appendix F The Common Sense Guide to Health Savings Accounts by Roy Ramthun 179</p>
<p>Notes 227</p>
<p>Index 237</p>