> The problem with high deductibles is it encourages people to wait for treatment until >things get really bad. Treatments tend to get more expensive and become less effective the >longer your wait to do something.
>You really don't want to encourage people to delay treatment on things that turn out to be >cancer.
With loans available to the consumer, guaranteed by the government, there is not a reason to delay treatment. The point of the high deductible and loans for basic health care is to induce the consumer to shop wisely.
Aside from emergency treatments, the symptoms alone should be enough to guide you to a good health care provider. Also, once one is diagnosed, one could comparision shop.
First, data mine insurance forms to obtain cost and performance data for health care providers, then make that data available on the Internet so consumers can shop wisely for health care.
Second, require a high deductible on any insurance that a consumer has.
Third, if a consumer can't afford health care at the time needed, the government provides a loan.
With this approach, a consumer has both the incentive to shop wisely for health care and the information needed to do so. Then, competition will drive down costs. This is the heart of the approach. More details would be needed to make it viable.
Taxes are so high that many mothers work. Many kids come home to an empty house, then find some comfort food to fill their emotional emptiness. Then sometime later, look in the mirror, see that they are gaining weight, and then eat some more comfort food. And that's why a lot of kids are fat. It's a good reason to put the government on a diet.
Enclaves with their own local government, laws and regulations would provide places where new ideas and approaches could be tried without significant risk to the rest of the nation. And then once shown to work, can be adopted nationwide. This is an end run around decades of liberal expansion of government, including regulations.
How one feels about the country, the government and one's prospects for the future influences how productive one is. If one feels powerless, trapped in a boring job, a cog in a bureaucratic machine, etc., one is likely to tune out and go thru the motions daily until one retires. On the other hand, if one feels good about things, one is likely to be engaged, productive and perhaps innovative.
Worldwide employment in manufacturing is decreasing due to increased automation. By being a leader in manufacturing automation, the U.S. could recapture much of it's lost manufacturing capability. Labor costs would be less of a factor in product costs. Progress in in manufacturing automation depends on innovation. The key to an increased pace of innovation is a reformed patent system which greatly reduces the time and cost of securing patent protection. A week or so after filing for a patent, others could read the patent and perhaps improve on it. Many of the patents would be for increased automation in manufacturing and products that are easier to manufacture. By rewarding the inventors of worthwhile inventions, inventing can be a rewarding career and a way to recruit inventors. The patenting process in brief: To file a patent application, email a description of your invention to a Patent Office Repository. A cursory examination for clarity would be done by the Patent Office. No patents would be awarded as such. The presence in the repository is the patent. Designers could search the repository for ideas when designing a new product. Each industry segment would be taxed on it's products as a per cent of the perceived value of the patents. (The tax rate would be set by law.) Compensation, if any, would be from the tax revenues of the relevant industry. The compensation would be based on usage, perceived value(as determined from a number of sources) and time elapsed since the description was filed.
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> The problem with high deductibles is it encourages people to wait for treatment until >things get really bad. Treatments tend to get more expensive and become less effective the >longer your wait to do something. >You really don't want to encourage people to delay treatment on things that turn out to be >cancer. With loans available to the consumer, guaranteed by the government, there is not a reason to delay treatment. The point of the high deductible and loans for basic health care is to induce the consumer to shop wisely. Aside from emergency treatments, the symptoms alone should be enough to guide you to a good health care provider. Also, once one is diagnosed, one could comparision shop.
Health care costs can reduced by about 50% by:
First, data mine insurance forms to obtain cost and performance data for health care providers, then make that data available on the Internet so consumers can shop wisely for health care.
Second, require a high deductible on any insurance that a consumer has.
Third, if a consumer can't afford health care at the time needed, the government provides a loan.
With this approach, a consumer has both the incentive to shop wisely for health care and the information needed to do so. Then, competition will drive down costs. This is the heart of the approach. More details would be needed to make it viable.
Taxes are so high that many mothers work. Many kids come home to an empty house, then find some comfort food to fill their emotional emptiness. Then sometime later, look in the mirror, see that they are gaining weight, and then eat some more comfort food. And that's why a lot of kids are fat. It's a good reason to put the government on a diet.
Enclaves with their own local government, laws and regulations would provide places where new ideas and approaches could be tried without significant risk to the rest of the nation. And then once shown to work, can be adopted nationwide. This is an end run around decades of liberal expansion of government, including regulations.
How one feels about the country, the government and one's prospects for the future influences how productive one is. If one feels powerless, trapped in a boring job, a cog in a bureaucratic machine, etc., one is likely to tune out and go thru the motions daily until one retires. On the other hand, if one feels good about things, one is likely to be engaged, productive and perhaps innovative.
There's more information and more ideas at:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/stanlass/theway.html
Worldwide employment in manufacturing is decreasing due to increased automation.
By being a leader in manufacturing automation, the U.S. could recapture much of it's lost manufacturing capability. Labor costs would be less of a factor in product costs.
Progress in in manufacturing automation depends on innovation. The key to an increased pace of innovation is a reformed patent system which greatly reduces the time and cost of securing patent protection.
A week or so after filing for a patent, others could read the patent and perhaps improve on it.
Many of the patents would be for increased automation in manufacturing and products that are easier to manufacture.
By rewarding the inventors of worthwhile inventions, inventing can be a rewarding career and a way to recruit inventors.
The patenting process in brief:
To file a patent application, email a description of your invention to a Patent Office Repository. A cursory examination for clarity would be done by the Patent Office.
No patents would be awarded as such. The presence in the repository is the patent.
Designers could search the repository for ideas when designing a new product.
Each industry segment would be taxed on it's products as a per cent of the perceived value of the patents. (The tax rate would be set by law.)
Compensation, if any, would be from the tax revenues of the relevant industry. The compensation would be based on usage, perceived value(as determined from a number of sources) and time elapsed since the description was filed.