For my write-up today on Saving Lives & Saving Money: Transforming Health and Healthcare, I'll highlight what Newt Gingrich says on pages 110-111:
"In
a world where we have the ability to do our own trading on the stock
market, it should be unacceptable that we are still at the mercy of an
insurance company to understand care options, provider choices, and
costs. The role of a patient has evolved into a dependency relationship
in the healthcare delivery system rather than the driver of the
system. Access to information and knowledge about healthcare will
empower individuals, as consumers, to make the best healthcare choices
in deciding which procedures, treatments, and preventive care will meet
their mental, emotional, and physical needs. We want to know that the
physician performing our hip and knee replacement has done the procedure
enough times to be proficient at it. We want to know that if we have
type 2 diabetes, our doctor has a high percentage of success in treating
patients with that condition."
But what if you do an online
search and find a doctor you like, and the insurance company doesn't
cover a visit to that particular doctor? Knowledge is not necessarily
power, especially in a system where one is dependent on the insurance
company. I wonder how Canada would handle this: Can Canadians visit any
doctor in the country, and the government pays for it?