posted on Jan, 12 2010 @ 12:31 PM
And all regulation of insurance, including regulations that prevent cross-state sales and regulations defining minimum coverage.
And all drug regulation.
And all patents on medical equipment, drug recipes, and procedures.
What would happen?
You'd see medical prices drop like a brick over-night.
You'd see insurance companies scrambling to compete against startups.
You'd see insurance companies scrambling to put out high deductible low premium packages.
You'd see health savings accounts explode.
You'd see massive reductions in equipment costs (those 25,000 dollar power scooters Medicare buys up like hotcakes? yeah, those would be coming down
in cost real quick)
You'd see a large increase in charity hospitals and charity doctor time.
You'd see hospitals going bankrupt overnight as they scrambled to streamline operations.
You'd see new hospitals and private clinics springing up everywhere to compete against the bloated bureaucracies of the existing hospitals.
You'd see hospital administration costs massively decrease as nearly all the reporting overhead would be wiped out.
Over time, you'd see quality of service increase, wait times decrease, and prices further decrease to the point where major surgeries could be paid
for on a credit card (just like a breast augmentation, which is a fairly substantial operation).
You'd see price lists pop up in front of doctors offices for treatments and people would actually call around trying to find the best doctor at the
best price.
You'd see drug companies slashing prices down and new drug companies starting up to compete.
You'd see a total streamlining of new drug creation and a far faster time to market for new drugs.
You'd see more new drugs being created and brought to market with far more innovation.
You'd see alternative care and home care drop radically in price.
Would millions of people die?
no.
Those on fixed income would be tight for brief period until costs adjusted down, but you'd see drug and equipment manufacturers rapidly copying each
others drugs and equipment to compete against each other.
Drug companies would increase their charitable drug donations drastically since it costs next to nothing to produce a pill. Drug companies have no
incentive to charitably give when Medicare is picking up the tab.
You'd see drug collectives form, where non-for profit drug makers spring up to cheaply produce already available drugs at costs for members.
Since surgery costs would be slashed over-night, doctors could afford to do charity work for those too poor to afford the surgery. The cost overhead
of the charity would be transfered to the insured or to patients who can afford to pay out of pocket.
Hospitals would still treat everyone that was in need of emergency surgery or care as they are sworn by oath to do.
Overall, the first couple of years would be a little painful, but after that it would be smooth sailing.