The sorry state of the healthcare system in the United States is abysmal. While the Affordable Care Act is a beginning step, it’s not going to fix what is wrong with the healthcare system in the United States. We are still dealing with for profit insurance companies.
We need another solution if we want to provide for the general welfare as instructed in the preamble to our Constitution. The capitalistic system has brought us to where we are now. It's time to try something else.
I believe that a federal service whose mission is not profit but the health of the public is needed. For a fixed period of service the government will pay for your schooling & training. Doctors, Nurses and other medical personal will be assigned to a Medical Diagnostic Center that will service X amount of population. There would be a medical organization where the first level of service would be the Community Service Center. This center would provide the same level of service as your General Practitioner. In addition, this CSC would also provide vision and dental care.
The next level of service would be a contracted Hospital or in rural areas the CSC could be expanded to provide advanced services. Contracted Hospitals would also serve as a Level 1 Trauma Center available by air ambulance.
We also could use expanded Veteran Administration hospitals to provide service also. If Veteran Administration hospitals are used veterans would have priority for service unless it is medically necessary for others to be treated first.
This would be a boon for the rural areas where specialists are in short supply. Costs could be controlled by standardizing salaries like the military. Depth of knowledge and time served could be some parameters for rate of pay. Volume buying of prescription drugs and other medical supplies will also help control the costs of medical care.
Private Doctors & hospitals could be used by people who have some sort of medical insurance or pay for it out of pocket. Nobody would be forced to use MSC doctors of facilities. I envision that the primary customers would be homeless, poor or middle class individuals or families.
We could make this happen if we get the republicans out of office. For those who scream socialism, well not all socialism is bad. The capitalistic system has brought us to where we are now. It's time to try something else.