Newt Ginghrich  presents some interesting ideas to reform health care.

1.        Eliminate Medicare and Medicaid fraud.  It consumes over $70 billion a year. In New York state they estinate is consumes 10% of Medicaid spending.

2.       Focus research dollars on treatment of diabetes which consumes a fourth of Medicare spending and Alzheimers which will consumes trillions of dollars over the coming decade. We will get much more bang for our buck than other medical initiatives.

3.        Reform malpractice insurance.

4.       Require medical directives.  Much money is spent administering medical care to people who may not want it, especially in the end of life. Communities where directives are used more spend less on the expensive end of life care with better satisfaction.

There would be enough savings from these initiatives to fund medical coverage for everyone without a tax increase.

Too much of the proposed medical reform seems much more like a move to grab political power than a serious effort to solve problems of either medical costs or coverage.

print