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Hospital Impact has been ranked one of the top 50 healthcare blogs by Wikio.
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by Tony Chen
The Terminator wants to terminate uninsuredness in CA. Sounds familiar? It should - remember how the blogosphere went ablaze when Gov. Romney of MA declared health insurance for all MA residents almost a year ago? (Maine and Vermont also have similar set-ups)
Terminator's plan is quite similar - a form of "required" insurance for employers with more than 10 workers. If individuals can't afford insurance, the state will step in to help. But the twists? Hospitals and physicians would pay a "tax" (2% for docs, 4% for hospitals) to pay for the program (and in return for more favorable reimbursement). Also, the illegals are also eligible. One last thing: the program will cost $10B, 10x more than the MA plan.
This brings up the age-old question of incentives. Wanna know what's the most ironic thing in healthcare? The person with the greatest incentive for you to be healthy is not you, your doctor, or even your hospital. For you, why be healthy when there is always a catch-all safety-net in the form of your local hospital/physician - they'll fix you up regardless. Your physician makes a living off of utilization of their services, and so do hospitals. If you're healthy, how will they profit and grow?
How ironic is it that out of all the folks in healthcare, it's only the insurance company getting capitation payments who "cares" about you and wants you to be as healthy as possible. In fact, you healthy folks are the apple of their eye - they'll fight over you cuz your employer sends them a check for $300 per month and it goes right to the bottom line. Has anyone seen UnitedHealth's 5-year stock price trend lately (and read Matthew Holt's post on how entire occupations are simply deemed ineligible)?
Anyway (sorry for that cynical rant just now), Arnold's proposal is far from being approved. Expect a good debate in CA. Expect the nation to be watching. Maybe Arnold will prove me wrong - I forecasted that universal healthcare would not work in '07 - no desperation, no crisis (yet), and thus, not enough political courage.
