Financing Healthcare in the US - a collaboration for the 21st Century

Healthcare in the US is and has been a huge issue. We have developed some amazing science and technology. The US is also beginning to accept what has been called alternative healthcare some, such as acupuncture, is far from alternative to billions of people. Integrative medicine is now more commonly used to emphasize the collaboration for the benefit of the person.
I have been in the insurance business since 1982 almost 30 years. I came from being an engineer working on alternative energy studies back in the mid 1970’s. Engineering was not for me as I tended to talk too much. I still have a love of science and technology. I was one of the first to effectively use the internet to bring health insurance online. My websites are often used by the Florida legislature when they are looking into healthcare and health insurance in Florida. I am a managing general agent working domestically in the US and also internationally.
This puts me in an interesting situation as I see the issues and problems people have with accessing healthcare and I see the government and corporate side as well. Since I am active with internet and how we are evolving very rapidly, it seemed to make sense to use the combined intelligence we have here to explore and create new ways or new paradigms for our healthcare. Insurance is one of the ways healthcare is financed. Healthcare can be paid for by the government or it can be paid for by the person receiving the healthcare or maybe we will find new ways to handle this.
I have found the issues of healthcare, health insurance, government regulation and support, and people’s values, when mixed together create of kind of insanity. This touches us at some very core levels. It tests how we relate as people to each other, one to one, as a society, as a country, as a world as a humanity. Is healthcare a right? Is healthcare a privilege? Is the job of the government to provide it? Where does it begin? Where does it stop? When does it stop? What model of healthcare is accepted in the US? How we answer these has a cost. There are many ways to look at this and I have found that a person’s views can vary considerably when the care is for someone they love or the population in general.
I would like to suggest this as way to begin. Let’s explore health and healthcare without worrying about how it will be paid for. I suggest this way to free ourselves to look at health and healthcare without the roadblock of cost. As we learn to collaborate and better understand the diversity of views, values and options my hope is that new paradigms will emerge that will attract new financial paradigms just because they are such a good idea.
Facebook is an amazing new way of relating that grew out of collaboration. If the first thing that came up was, how would Facebook be paid for, I wonder if we would be here today. I have been thinking for awhile on how this 21st century collaborative energy could be used for healthcare and financing and this is where I feel we can start. Let’s get going.
My websites can be a good source of info in some areas.
http://www.floridahea...
http://www.insurance-...
I hope our friends in the US and worldwide will help us. We need it.
Some facts
• The US takes 60% of the world’s prescribed medications and has 5% of the world’s population
• Health insurance began in the 1940’s during WWII because there was a freeze on pay raises and businesses were looking for ways to attract and keep employees. Healthcare was relatively inexpensive and health insurance was more of a prepaid program.
• Medicare will be bankrupt between 2012 and 2019 (depends on who you ask)
According to the World Health Organization (some of this comes from the year 2000 report, but gives us a perspective)
• The US has by far the most expensive healthcare in the world
• In 1996 the US ranked 26th in infant mortality and now according to United Nations World Report 2006 the US ranks number 32
• The US ranked the lowest of all (least fair) of all OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development http://en.wikipedia.o...) countries
• The US ranked 24th on disability adjusted life expectancy
• Attainment and performance is a way of looking at how well at country’s health system is performing, compared to how well it could perform given its level of resources. The US ranked 15th in its overall level of attainment and 37th in the world for performance
• The US ranks first in responsiveness amongst all countries, the extent to which caregivers are responsive to patient expectations with regard to non-health areas such as being treated with dignity. This might not be true for everyone depending on whether they are insured or perceived to be able to pay.
So in English, according to this amongst economically developed countries, we don’t live as long, children are more likely to die in their first year, we aren’t living up to our potential, we are the most expensive and most financially unfair but we are more responsive. With all our great doctors, nurses and others in health care, what the hell is going on?
I am in this all day everyday and could go on indefinitely, but that is not the reason for this group. I am asking everyone to be involved. This touches us all, either directly or through someone we know. Let’s collaborate together and have a voice that is heard. I am interviewed by newspapers, magazines and legislature research aides often. I would love to tell them to go look at our Facebook group and make this the place that politicians, legislators, students, business people, reporters, medical providers and insurance carriers come to get ideas and form a new paradigm for health care in the 21st century.

I have created a Facebook Group called
Financing Healthcare in the US - a collaboration for the 21st Century

My hope is to bring the collaborative intelligence into this issue. A Facebook group seemed a good place to start.