Do you Hate Obama?

Instead of Obama-care:

The ideal approach is to peel the problem back like layers on an onion.

This means that you do the very simplest, cheapest, most efficient things first, where you get the most bang for the buck.

OK, what would that be?

Primary care clinics located near hospital emergency rooms and which have their own pharmacies and physicians round the clock.

What would that cost for 2000 hospitals to have such clinics nearby.

$10 Billion per year.

Who could manage it?

The American Red Cross.

How much would the Doctors be paid?

$166,000 per year each, and there would be three for each clinic.

Who else would work there?

Each clinic would have 10 Red Cross Volunteers.

Would they be paid?

Not with cash, but with refundable tax credits from the Federal government.

What the the current budget of the American Red Cross?

About $3 Billion per year.

So this quadruples their budget?

Correct.

Can they handle it?

I think so, and I think they can recruit very highly qualified physicians and manage them very effectively.

Would these clinics be subject to lawsuits?

No, the statute creating them would exclude that possibility.

Does this mean that only people who waive their right to sue can use the clinics?

Yes, it does. It’s sort of like good samaritan laws that already exist in many states.

What would the impact of this $10 Billion per year program be?

It would cut the healthcare problem down by about 35%. By giving people primary care, so many expensive illnesses are avoided. Right now, somebody picks up the tab for all those expensive situtations. Avoiding them, saves huge amounts of money.

So is the job done?

No, of course not.

So, what’s the next step?

I don’t know. Once the first layer of the onion has been peeled away, you have to look at the onion again to see the next step. One possible next step would be to double up on the program and take it out to cover 4000 hospitals for a cost of about $20 Billion per year. But there are many other possible second steps, no point is doing that analysis on a speculative basis, better to do it will real data in hand (the Monte Carlo Method).

Is this cheaper than Obama-Care?

Yes, he wants to spend a Trillion over ten years, so that’s $100 Billion per year.

$10 Billion per year is only 10% of that Obama-Care pricetag.

Is this better?

Yes, plainly it’s better. It’s 1000% more direct. There is virtually no compulsion and no bureaucracy involved. The beneficiaries are self-selecting. No company or hospital gets any unfunded mandates. The drugs can be paid for by the VA using the huge leverage they already have, and just split the delivered goods between the VA and the Red Cross.

What are the hidden costs?

There would be security costs. You would need somebody like Blackwater or Wackenhut or Kroll to assure a secure environment in and near these clinics. The people who need medical care in the middle of the night shouldn’t have to worry about violent crime in the clinic where they go to get care, and drugs. So that’s a small hidden cost. Properly done, it can be a handled very efficiently.

I’m signing this one:

Gao Bwo Fu (Juin Tze)

P.S. All readers should feel free to cut and paste this idea into a letter to their Congress persons. Speak truth to Power!

The Author:

MBA (management science)
JD (law)
Two decades of experience designing systems to solve problems.
People who can’t spell and can’t read the question, really shouldn’t bother to post a response. Let’s make this one a “no clowns zone” OK?