How to Fix Medicare: Let's Pay Patients, Not Physicians | 
| Author: Roger Feldman
Publisher: American Enterprise Institute Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $10.82
You Save: $4.18 (28%)
New (5) Used (4) from $9.38
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 1661598
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 120
ISBN: 0844742651
Dewey Decimal Number: 368.38200973
EAN: 9780844742656
ASIN: 0844742651
Publication Date: July 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!
|
| Customer Reviews:
An interesting idea, but I remain unconvinced (maybe I just don't understand) October 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
While I usually am quite enthusiastic about the books from AEI Press, I am not feeling very supportive of this book. Maybe I am misunderstanding the proposal. While I do agree with the author that the current Medicare system is awful for patients, doctors, and hospitals, I do not think the indemnities the author describes will provide the results Roger Feldman describes.
For example, lets say granny gets a check for $12,000 to take care of her hip operation (if that's the right price, I don't know). So, about this time her drug addicted grandson talks her out of the money or she decides to double her money at the casino before she pays the hospital. What if she decides to fix her hip with magic crystals? I suppose if only approved medical facilities can redeem these indemnities it might work. However, can you imagine the political football of allowing new kinds of "practitioners" in as a means of "lowering" health care costs? A significant chunk of our health insurance money goes to quack non-medical "medicine" already!
The money is gone, granny's hip is still bad, and now what? As a society, we have long ago decided we are not going to let her suffer and say, "Well, it's your fault so just take the misery." Unless we are going to change our culture and let people permanently suffer and die from their stupid choices, I am not sure such direct payments for medical care can work.
Nor do I like the idea that Medigap insurance has to go. Why shouldn't free people be free to make the financial arrangements they find best? If there are problems with the way the insurance is packaged or used, let's address them. But I am not sure that outright abolition of such insurance is the right way to go.
As I say, maybe I am getting this wrong. But this little book as I read it, did not win me over.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
|
|
|
