Healthcare Cost Reduction: An Out of the Nine Dots Solution

I am prepared to sign away my right to sue for any aspect of healthcare, including doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, rehabilitation centers, dentists, ophthalmologists, clinics, hospice services, etc. Any attorney from any of these can write the agreement and I’ll sign it. Some reading this may think that I’m crazy. But, I do expect something in return. I want a healthcare insurance premium which is 50% or lower than what we are paying today.

Like many of my generation (I was born in 1944), I had a family doctor that treated my family in a day when doctors made house calls. Our family doctor, Eli Wallach of Jersey City NJ, would come out in a blizzard or a hurricane to treat our family. I can assure you that my father would never have considered suing Dr. Wallach even if one of us died while under his care. Maybe, Americans were more accepting of death back then. Or, maybe they had more realistic expectations. Patients died and doctors were rarely blamed.

You see, until I was twenty two, I lived under a “best efforts” healthcare system. Now in the autumn of my life, I’m prepared to do it again. That’s right; lawyers will play no part in my healthcare plan. If I die, I die. If the doctor fails to save me while giving his/her best, no one in my family will sue…period. The same goes for hospitals, nurses and all the others that provide the best healthcare in the world.

Once I sign away my right to sue forever, I’ll advertise my “healthcare on a best efforts basis” status to the world healthcare community. My guess is that doctors, hospitals and drug companies will want me as a customer. They will contact me on a regular basis. I’ll likely get “sweet-heart” offers on all kinds of services and the rates will be cheap. My guess is that I will get preferred patient status with these healthcare providers too. Who wouldn’t want me as a patient? Malpractice rates will go down for physicians that have a critical mass of patients like me. There will be no endless tests that lawyers and insurance companies require that are actually unnecessary as part of the diagnostic phase of my care.

What is needed is an insurance company or two to create such an offering. I’m not sure what the critical mass of customers will be for this to make sense to an insurance company, but I’ll bet that it is 50,000 families or less. Actually, it would be best if about a dozen companies would take a chance and make an offering. This competition will further depress premiums.

I’d rather have a system like this than say, get sick in England. This would be easier for me to deal with than having some bureaucrat decide if I’m young enough for the kidney transplant. I’d sleep better if I knew that my family doctor actually cared about my health instead of the prospect of an expensive law suit. He/she would work hard to keep patients like me alive and healthy.

Just think about it. I’m ready to sign up and sign away my right to sue.

Contact: J Cascarelli, 719-783-2146 or ctr59537@centurytel.net.