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My Simple Solution to the Healthcare Crisis => Summer 2004

Robert W. Yelverton, M.D.

Robert Yelverton

Reflecting on the recent death of Ronald Reagan, some thoughts come to mind relevant to the complex problems negatively impacting the healthcare system in our great country today. Regardless of how you feel about Reagan’s politics, both liberals and conservatives agree that President Reagan was a man with simple, idealistic solutions to extremely complex issues in both foreign and domestic policy. His simplistic personal agenda was based on his belief that communism, with its suppression of human rights was bad, and that a capitalistic democracy with its freedoms was good. On the domestic side, Reagan felt that double-digit inflation and high federal spending were bad and that a stable economy and low taxes were good. Arguably, with these simple philosophies he set out to change a nation and ended up changing the world. In four years he controlled double-digit inflation and in eight years presided over the demise of Western Communism and its quest for world domination.

I then began thinking, if we could apply similar simple principles to the healthcare crisis, could we bring about significant change? I believe we can. Greater minds than mine have written multiple treatise and books on the complex resolution of our current national healthcare crisis. Just for fun, lets place our healthcare problems into simple Reagan-like categories and then decide whether or not the solutions are just too complex.

Simple facts:

  • Generally, healthcare in the United States is the best in the world.
  • Healthcare in the United States is the most expensive in the world.
  • The majority of Americans currently have access to excellent medical care.
  • A minority of Americans do not have access to excellent medical care.
  • The Federal Government spends billions of dollars on entitlements to provide healthcare for both those that cannot afford it and for those that can.
  • Managed care has failed to control costs.
  • Managed care has destroyed the will and incentive for physicians to excel.
  • A corrupted tort system, particularly as it relates to healthcare, is a mockery of justice and is significantly driving up the cost of healthcare.

My Simple Solutions:

  • Continue, and improve upon, the effective policies in place for training physicians and providing firstrate facilities for delivering healthcare.
  • Junk managed care.
  • Trash Medicare, as we know it.
  • Reduce healthcare costs by allowing the industry to return to a free market with open price competition
  • Limit Federal and State healthcare expenditures to the creation of a complete safety net for those in need of it.
  • Circumvent the hopelessly corrupted tort system by mandating Federal and State limits on non-economic damages.
  • Allow the healthcare industry to place specific surcharges on healthcare costs to cover the cost of professional liability insurance.

When I began jotting down these reflections it was in a tongue-in-cheek fashion - but think about it.

And oh yes, I forgot one thing. To invoke most of these solutions we must get rid of the lawyers.

On another note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Florida OB/GYN Society for allowing me to serve as your President for the past year. It has been a great honor to represent you throughout the past year and was a rewarding experience that I will never forget.

My contact information:
Telephone: (813) 286-0033
E-mail: ryelverton@tbwc.com