Stylios Alton Trachanas - Reorganize the Health Care System All citizens of our country deserve the security of universal health care that guarantees access based on needs rather than income. It is a fundamental human right and an important measure of social justice. The government should play the central role of regulating, financing and providing health care. Everyone faces the possibility of poor health. The risk should be shared broadly to ensure fair treatment and equitable rates, and everyone should share responsibility for contributing to the system through progressive financing. The cost of health care is rising. Over the past years, its expenditure has risen faster than the cost increases reported in other sectors of the economy. As a matter of fact, the free market doesn't work for the health care system. There are two ways of financing health care: The first is a private method of financing, by means of using workers' and corporations' money as premiums for the acquisition of private insurance, which provides medical care. The established order leaves far behind 47 million people without health insurance. The second way, which is used by all developed countries of the world, is by taxing the workers for health care, which generates a pool of money, financing it through the budgets of the countries. The people of our country prefer private medical insurance and private health care. Getting accustomed, in the course of time to the existing system, our people reject all other proposals independent of their merits.
An analysis of the acting system of private health insurance shows that this, in essence, is a social method of distribution of collected premiums. The insurance companies collect premiums from all insured workers and spend a part of them for the health care of needy patients. As we see, private stay only the misappropriation of profits. Social distribution is carried out not on the scale of the full country but is only limited by every medical insurance company. Medical insurance companies use as the basis of their operations an unfair practice. They select for medical insurance only relatively young, healthy, working people, which rarely are sick. They constantly increase the premium rates, excluding retirees who need substantially more care. Thus, the health insurance companies established for themselves hothouse conditions. They make billions of dollars in profits, which in essence is a simple misappropriation of unused means of healthy people, that don't need medical services. Justifiably these means should be set aside in a special fund and used for care when these workers retire. The health care system needs fundamental change and improvement. It consists precisely that is necessary to decide a ripe task about improvement of medical care, simultaneous lowering the expenditures and providing all citizens of our country with goo care. This major problem brooks no further delay. It is generally known that health care in our country equates with small business, and all participants are interested, like every business, in receiving the highest possible profits.
Another important measure - fundamental change of the existing payment system for medical doctors care. We offer the introduction of pay by the hour remuneration system in the form of rate of salaries. Salaries for doctors should be established independence with the qualification, confirmed every five years, exemplary 150-200-250 thousand dollars yearly. Besides, that should be established the distribution of bonuses for successfully carried out surgeries and excellent medical treatments of patients. This undoubtedly will switch over the attention of medical doctors to quality health services for patients. In essence, only such radical changes can be called medical care reform. It is advisable to set up a public, non-profit organization for medical care of the population of the whole country, with branches in all states. The leadership of the non-profit organization should be carried out by the best experts in medicine, science, economics, finances and public relationship. They must take full responsibility for the medical care of the entire population and the use of means for financing it. It must include effective mechanisms for controlling the costs of medical care. All controversial questions should be decided between medical doctors-experts from this organization and treating doctors. This will be a managed health care system. Managed care reflects the country's distinctive approach to a universal human challenge. The cost of medical care must be contained. The rationale for limit setting policies must be explicit and readily available to the public. The rational must show how the policy promotes good care for individuals and the optimal use of available resources for the large population. It is advisable to free the medical doctors from the necessity of insurance against cases of committing medical errors, lifting of them the heavy burden of unnecessary wasted expenses. Medical doctors, undoubted should carry the responsibility for committing criminal negligence in the performance of their duties, causing irreparable harm to the health of treating patients.