"Docs4PatientCare.org is a politically neutral grassroots coalition of physicians. Use of any politically partisan terms does not reflect the position of Docs4PatientCare.org. We do encourage our speakers to express how they feel and we post articles based on their informative content only. Any politically partisan language used does not reflect the group as a whole. Specific party or political allegiances and opposition are not our intent. The goal of D4PC is only to advocate for effective and responsible health care reform."
Almost everyone involved in health care will tell you that the greatest problem in our system is that we pay on a "fee-for-service" basis. Almost everyone is wrong. Fee for service is not the problem, but FFS in a third party payor system. Only in health care is there someone else picking up the tab for our spending.
If we applied the same third-party payment technique to any other segment of the economy we would get the exact same inflationary spiral we see in health care.
Medical care in the United States is derided as miserable compared to health care systems in the rest of the developed world. Economists, government officials, insurers and academics alike are beating the drum for a far larger government rôle in health care. Much of the public assumes their arguments are sound because the calls for change are so ubiquitous and the topic so complex. However, before turning to government as the solution, some unheralded facts about America's health care system should be considered.
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