February 7, 2016

How the Legislature Can Reduce the Cost of ObamaCare

High deductible insurance has proven to drive health care costs down.  Patients on such plans only seek care they feel is necessary since they have to pay for it. However, a $2,500 to $5,000 deductible is too much for a middle class wage earner to afford.  As such, this cost saving plan is not available and not used by the majority of Obamacare insured.

What would be affordable and cost saving would be a lower deductible and a share of cost that applied to every diagnostic procedure outside of a physical examination.  This would encourage patients to ask if the procedure is necessary, and to find out why it is necessary by asking how a result could affect treatment. So many tests are ordered just to “confirm the diagnosis”.  Successful treatment confirms not just the diagnosis, but also the efficacy of the treatment.

Equalizing the cost of examinations between specialists and generalists would reduce the cost of care.  It would also eliminate a monetary penalty the insurance company currently pays when a patient wants to see a specialist.  Patients often know which specialist is appropriate for their care and can save insurance companies money by going there without first being referred by a generalist.

Not allowing patients to sue if a therapeutic trial involved something other than giving pain pills relieved symptoms reduces symptoms. (Pain pills mask symptoms so patients on pain pills saying they are better does not indicate they are getting better, it only indicates they don’t feel how bad they are.)