| Task Force Plan |
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| COMMERCIAL PUBLIC UTILITY TO MANAGE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM The “Princeton Task Force on National Health Care” today proposed that Congress create a commercial public utility, like the “COMSTAT Corp.”, to manage a national health care system comprised of a risk pool of the entire U.S. citizenry, under one rating structure, providing full health care coverage from prenatal care to the grave. The goal is to maximize the role of the for-profit private sector, while at the same time eliminating redundancy in insur- ance plans, providing full insurance coverage for all; and reduce to the extent possible government involvement, fraud, loopholes, voids in coverage, malpractice suit abuse, "heroic" life-support abuse, duplication of premium payments for the same coverage, "nickel-and-dime" insurance payments for limited coverage. It would appear reasonable that if an insured receives full coverage for life insurance, car insurance, homeowners insurance, and all other forms of insurance, that an insured should receive full coverage for health insurance. Cost analyses, based upon actual 1990 national health care costs, show that for individual and small group subscribers, full coverage pro rata costs of $2,664 per person would be substant- ially less than current premiums plus taxes costs--for partial coverage, with co-payments and deductibles. Drawing upon the best features of the German, British and American systems, the plan would provide one insurance carrier in place of the thousands of diverse commercial and not-for-profit companies and plans. In place of fee-for-service fees based upon ability to pay, physicians would be paid an annual amount for a standard amount of work effort, based upon their skill level and experience, as in Britain. Unlike Britain, patients would be free to choose their own physician. Incentives would be provided and paid for exceeding this standard. As for the British system, a London physician and professor writes "Can I also add that our National Health Service, despite its problems, is still supported by about 95% of doctors and near 100% of the population (including me and all my professional colleagues.) The argument today is about organization, not the basic principle." Insureds would be given pre-magnetized cards with their medi- cal history encoded, reducing work-up costs, which would be their authorization for provision of services by any physician of choice. The unemployed and the indigent would have their premium paid by the federal government, at an estimated cost of $154 billion, as opposed to 1990 federal expenditures of $297 billion for health costs. Under this plan, state costs for Medicare/Medicaid, and all other health related costs, would be zero. The Medicare/Medicaid system would be eliminated as redundant Management of the health care system would include forms and billing simplification, managed care and risk management concepts for increased efficiency and proficiency, but not the current vogue of "cost containment" through "rationing of services." Regulating the commercial for-profit national Healthcare Corp. would be a new federal Service Review Commission similar in organization and function to the FCC. Based upon Germany's and Canada's 2.5% administration cost compared to a U.S. administrative cost of 8.5%, dollar savings on this item alone would be $40 billion. The “Princeton Task Force” is made up of concerned citizens from the Princeton and New Jersey area; physicians, nurses and hospital staff from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as input and critiques from doctors and professionals from the United States, Britain, Canada and Japan. Other sources included the Embassies of Germany and Japan, and the Canadian Consulate, New York City. |