Solving the Problem - By Nathan Eames

Nathan Eames is a contributor to The Skewed Review.
Check out more of his work at Personal Paradigm.

THE SKEWED REVIEW | NEWS & POLITICS | HEALTH & WELLNESS | PERSONAL PARADIGM

My father had a saying, I don't know if it was his or if he adapted it from someone else, but it went like this: "Anybody can identify a problem. It takes real skill to identify the solution."

I, like other writers that focus on social issues, am quick to see the problem, quick to identify the culprits, and in many cases, quick to discuss the history of how the problem developed. Where we lack unfortunately, is the ability to be quick about finding a solution.

Sometimes those solutions are as plain as day, and far be it for me to insult the intelligence of my audience. However, sometimes those solutions are complex and difficult to convey, and if I'm honest with myself sometimes I get lazy about it. Today I'm kicking myself squarely in the rear and taking this problem head on. The problem I speak of: health care. It's an ambitious task, but I feel like I'm up for the challenge. Here we go.

The problem with health care these days is that it is just too damn expensive. Even simple procedures are so costly that they require health insurance just to pay for them. Matty's experience is just one example. Earlier this year I cut my finger deep enough to require stitches. I went to the emergency room and came out a few hours later with only three stitches. Not a huge procedure, but the hospital charged my insurance almost $2,000 for the visit. This is ridiculous. Obviously we need to do something to get these costs down. The question is: how?

If there is one thing that free markets have taught us it is that competition not only encourages increases the quality of the service or product offered, but also decreases the price of that product or service. Even the history of Standard Oil, the supposed spokes-company of monopolies, bears this out.

In 1911, at the time of their forced breakup into 34 different companies, there were at least 147 other oil refining competitors, and their market share had dropped to approximately 64 percent with oil prices dropping over 50 percent just a few years prior. Incidentally, the breakup caused John D. Rockefeller to become the richest man in the world due to the fact that he still retained about 25 percent of the stock of those resulting companies, and the stock value doubled.

The key to increasing competition in the health care field is very similar to what was done to Standard Oil, but with some key differences. Let's do some trust busting of our own shall we?

Our first target in our trust busting crusade? State Licensing Boards.

By creating ever more complex and difficult barriers to entry into the healthcare field, licensing has decreased the supply of medical professionals in all areas. When I cut my finger and went to the hospital, the law required that I be seen by a doctor who had been through an insane amount of training just to stitch my finger. That doctor has to charge a certain amount to recover the expenses of his training--which is substantial.

If the licensing barriers were torn down, I might have been able to go to a medical professional who specialized in stitching up cuts, and that's it. Nothing else. This med tech might not be trained in anything else besides simple stitches, and with his training requirements much less than a standard doctor, his fees could be much less than a standard doctor.

This same principle would apply to Matty's experience with clinical depression. He might have had an opportunity to see a professional who was only trained to deal with clinical depression, and as his training would be far less costly than the standard psychiatrist, his fees could be far less as well.

Given the substantial cases of cuts and clinical depression in this country, I would imagine that you would see a fair amount of competition in these fields alone--all of them competing for your business.

Target No. 2 of our holy war would answer the question of where these new medical professionals are trained. State Education Boards we have you in our sights--Bang!

By limiting the scope of medical training schools as well as establishing legal standards for those schools, State Education Boards increase the barriers to entry for those wishing to establish teaching opportunities for new medical professionals. Should an enterprising doctor wish to establish a clinic that specializes in stitching, that doctor would be legally prevented from doing so. This would be the case for any number of unique and novel educational models. Bam! Down goes the barriers to entry, up goes the opportunities for education, and down goes the tuition and investment of those medical professionals--further reducing their required fees.

Next up on our list of heretics and oppressors of the American people: State Insurance Boards. (I realize I'm using "boards" to describe all of the state regulatory authorities. Many states call them by different names. They all do the same thing: restrict entry into the field of business. Does it really matter what I call them?)

This insidious bunch regulates everything about the insurance field from the financial requirements of insurance companies and the types of policies they're allowed to offer, to the type of customer they're allowed to provide coverage for. Break down these barriers and the effect on insurance prices will be the same as that of the medical prices.

Last, but certainly not least, on this list of destroyers of the American dream, and a personal favorite of mine with which I have personal experience, is the FDA.

The FDA's manufacturing regulations, as well as the endless hoops through which manufacturers have to jump for medical devices and drugs, have the same effect that every other example provided here has on the prices of these items, as well as the competition to supply these items. Smaller companies that lack the legal expertise, as well as the financial ability to jump through these hoops, are completely shut out of the market regardless of their ability to manufacture a quality product or not.

All of these measures would most certainly have the effect of reducing medical care prices, increasing available options to the consumer, and increasing the overall quality of care. Unfortunately, these measures are feared and resisted by many, most notably the existing producers as regulations have long given them a legal buffer against competition and allowed them to inflate their prices with we the people picking up the tab.

The biggest concern from the public that I have encountered is the concern that people will be hurt by unscrupulous, as well as incompetent, medical professionals should regulations be removed. My answer to that is: You're right, some people will be hurt. But I think the real question is: Isn't that happening now?

How often do you hear of prescription drugs killing people? Of doctors making a mistake on the surgery table that leads to death? Of emergency room doctors making the wrong diagnosis? Of plastic surgeons botching a boob job? Of people unable to afford medical care because they don't have an alternative?

The fact of the matter is that life is full of risk. As adults we should be free to assess that risk for ourselves and make choices that are best for our situation. Regulatory authorities and those that support them assume that average Americans are not capable of making these assessments and choosing for ourselves. Well, as an average American, I say give me the chance.