Health Care [Directly] for the people.

“Good MD, a [ Rochester, NY] primary care office set up this year, charges patients a single, flat monthly fee for unlimited visits. Monthly charges are based on age, and extra services—whether stitches or strep throat tests—are provided for an additional fee, posted online and in the office. The practice doesn’t accept private insurance at all. The result is a system that benefits not third-party payers, but doctors and patients, Good MD founder Dr. Thuc Huynh, told local TV station WROC. “Insurance isn’t who reimburses me or dictates what we do together in terms of our treatment. So, it’s a direct financial relationship.”

Supply Side Health Care Reform in so many words, is a drum I’ve been beating for a few years now. Effectively, the path to true, and fiscally sustainable healthcare reform is found on a micro level. As forward thinking Doctors and medical practitioners realize they are more effectively able to administer to the needs of their patients without an unwieldy third party involved, they will do so. On the other side of the coin, if patients are made aware of fees and pricing up front, with no painful delays, or bureaucracy to deal with, and can realize high quality care, they will seek this out.

On the macro level, some necessary changes must be made:

1. Eliminate the controls the government has instituted. This includes eliminating unnecessary licensing and permit rules which simply enable the existing status quo. Healthcare providers would be enabled to start a practice with the intent to provide care directly to consumers, and also price competitively. In this case, healthcare professionals will price themselves into or out of business, from this, market controls will establish costs NOT the government (which is the reason medicaid et al. fees are artificially high).

2.  Absolutely eliminate the taxpayer mandate which is effectively an involuntary “opt-in” for nationalized healthcare. How can a system which will only work if everyone contributes, and some unfairly more than others even be considered a functioning system? If the individual, families, groups, organizations, and companies are allowed to shop, and create their own personal health care solution, the individual stands to win. If the individual is forced to subsidize a big government system, then big government continues to win.

3. Cap malpractice litigation, which is a major contributor to the high cost of healthcare.

This is what the future of health care reform could look like: It’s provider-driven. It’s consumer-focused, with an emphasis on both price and service. And while Good MD isn’t the only doctor’s office to try variations on this model, it’s happening at the margins—at individual practices across the country.