In America today we find that health care is a multi-billion-dollar industry. It has its goods and its bads. As Dr. Sean Flynn stated in the lecture video, we are seeing more people avoiding going to school to become medical doctors as they are shifting their focus to going to school to become nurse practitioners. Why is it coming to this? I feel largely that the main reason is highly due to the new laws and regulations that are placed on health care. The stress that comes from this enough to drown a person and make them want to hate their life. They are greatly over worked as Dr. Flynn Stated in the lecture “fourth year medical students are expected to see a minimum of twelve patients for hour.” This large number comes from people who are now going to school to become a nurse practitioner because they are able to work normal hours and are able to work under medical doctor which leads them to not have to worry about all the paperwork that is required.
As doctor Flynn stated the United States used to have a community and charity board that would help keep the costs low for individuals and the community doctors would see those could not pay when they were not as busy. This all began to change when Henry Keiser brought Americans to the west coast to build boats for the war. He was able to do this by offering free health care to employees. Following this other large companies followed such as Ford and General Motors. This became the common thing for companies to do as it resulted in a tax break for the company. In my opinion this all began to go wrong for Americans when third party insurance companies became larger (almost like a monopoly). They now charge high premiums that we as Americans choose to pay so that we are able to have the security that if something goes wrong, we are covered. With these insurance companies they are able to decide what they are going to deem necessary and unnecessary.
During the lecture video Dr. Flynn talked a lot about Singapore and their health system and how we should try and use their standards in America. They are using a system that have made that works for their country. However, I am personally unsure if it would work in America. MMM (Meta save, Meta Shield, Meta Fund) has been a great asset to the people of Singapore.
According to Dr. Flynn meta save is a health savings account that the citizens of Singapore are required to have and are required to put in around 7% of their income into it. It is guaranteed a 4% interest rate by the government but is capped at $50,000 to avoid people from putting more in the account to avoid taxes. Would using a system like this be considered a form of socialism by many people in America? I feel as if many people would view this in that way. The citizens of America already pay large number of taxes each and would view this as the government taking away more of their hard earn income even though it would be for them to use for medical emergencies. Throughout the lecture it was mentioned a few times that most Americans do not have enough saved up to cover medical expenses, and I feel as if this is where people think the third-party insurance is good. In the instant that something were to happen after they meet their deductible insurance takes over and covers the rest.
In Singapore meta shield is the countries insurance program. Their insurance premiums are around $50 which is nice for it to be lower. The people are required to pay the first $2,000 then the way I understand is that the health savings will come into play. With the insurance premiums being much lower are the quality of services as good as we find in the states? I feel as if you could possibly run into the problem where the services you are receiving are not as good as we find in the states. For instance, in Canada in England with their free health care programs we find that the services one receives are not as good as we find in the states.
The Meta fund founded by the government of Singapore which is a large health savings account funded by the government to step in and cover the costs of medical expenses for those whose personal health savings accounts have run out. In order to be able to access this fund you must fill out a grant form that would then go through a system to be approved. Where should the line be drawn on gets this? The line is usually drawn when if you can afford the services yourself you must pay for them. In my opinion this is what is great about the insurance system in America, it doesn’t matter if your wealthy or not the insurance company will pay out. I believe that if the government is going to require its citizens to fund a health savings account, then if runs out, they should also cover their medical expenses over the $50,000.
According to Dr. Flynn Whole Foods offers a high deductible health insurance plan where the employees cover the first $1850. However, the first $1850 is gifted to each employee for this cost. After this limit is spent/ met insurance will step in and cover the rest. The state of Indiana followed with a similar option for its government employees. How do we bring to all businesses in America? I believe that this could be brought to America easily if we had more research and had greatly promoted. I will say that I feel as if Insurance companies are running a monopoly, without them most people could not afford any medical expenses. If large companies truly knew how much money this would save them, then I feel as If we see it more often.
As you can see in America today, we are facing a shortage of doctors. Other countries are able to survive off of offering free healthcare, but who pays for it. Singapore has a system that works greatly for their smaller population, And America has a monopoly that is essentially running the healthcare system. We have many great options that would help Americans considerably and lower the spending per capita on health care in America.