When are we going to sort out the Health Service?

[patslatt]

The heavily corperatised healthcare systems of continental europe should NOT be copied here. Just scrap the HSE entirely privatising the hospitals, letting them set their own wages and run their own operations. If they cant run efficient operations let them go out of business. see my earlier post.

How would we avoid the mistakes of American health care where too much insurance and small deductibles encourage wasteful care for those with generous tax deductible corporate health plans? THe average American receives about $200,000 worth of care,most of it in the final months of life as hospitals apply draconian methods to keep them alive. Insurers are in a constant battle with doctors over allowable treatments,creating huge administrative costs and then there are the ambulance chasing lawyers. Some heavy handed government controls and rationing are needed to keep medical care from gobbling up most government spending.

[pragmaticapproach]

Organisation of hospital care by county would not put most full service hospitals near dense population centres.

The health insurance industry seems very inefficient,with VHI unquestiongly passing on costs over the years and taking a percentage for itself. VHI hadn't a clue a few years ago about how long different hospitals took to process patients and differences in the rates of operations for similar patient profiles. Many surgical operations for heart disease produce inferior results to new drug therapies,for example.

Each mutual fund would negotiate provision of services with hospitals and clinics nationwide not just in their own county. Obviously emergency services would have to be arranged with local hospitals but major operations and some specialised care could be negotiated with healthcare providers outside the county.

[pragmaticapproach]

How would we avoid the mistakes of American health care where too much insurance and small deductibles encourage wasteful care for those with generous tax deductible corporate health plans? THe average American receives about $200,000 worth of care,most of it in the final months of life as hospitals apply draconian methods to keep them alive. Insurers are in a constant battle with doctors over allowable treatments,creating huge administrative costs and then there are the ambulance chasing lawyers. Some heavy handed government controls and rationing are needed to keep medical care from gobbling up most government spending.

The main reason healthcare costs are so expensive in the U.S is because of federal mandated managed care. Americans use health insurance for everything including standard doctors visits. Health insurance was never intended for day to day use, before the 70s most americans paid for doctors visits and minor proceedures out of pocket ina much more affordable market.

As for lawsuits, simply make the losing party cover all court costs. That should deter opportunistic litigators.

[patslatt]

Each mutual fund would negotiate provision of services with hospitals and clinics nationwide not just in their own county. Obviously emergency services would have to be arranged with local hospitals but major operations and some specialised care could be negotiated with healthcare providers outside the county.

Each mutual fund would be similar to American insurers creating layers of private sector bureaucracies negotiating with doctors and hospitals and second guessing them on permissible expensive treatments.

A few oligopoly health insurers might be more efficient in setting national standards for hospital remuneration,preventing the hospital consultants and hospitals from inflating costs. It would pay them to develop sophisticated databases on efficient treatments and they could have enough economies of scale to afford second opinion advice of medical specialists in pricing of treatments and decisions on whether treatments are advisable.

[Greg Mooney]

Despite numerous attempts by consecutive governments the Health Service seems to stumble from one crisis to another. To be fair, Jame Reilly is only in the job a couple of months so maybe he can reform it. However, he seems to have landed the same poison chalice that Brian Cowen referred to as Anglo. Listening to the radio, the HSE is facing a deficit of 300 million euro this year. Surely we need an all-party committee to be formed once and for all to find a solution. It amazes me that I can go to one of those VHI clinics and be discharged within the hour but with the HSE A and E I am guaranteed an all- nighter.

Can never be sorted as long as we try to run 2 systems side by side. I consultants want to work in private system then they should go and work in private hospitals. let vhi, quinn, aviva run their own hospitals for day to day care and but whatever specialist services the need from public system. Dr Consultants etc should not have 2 masters either they work in private system or public.

[pragmaticapproach]

Each mutual fund would be similar to American insurers creating layers of private sector bureaucracies negotiating with doctors and hospitals and second guessing them on permissible expensive treatments.

A few oligopoly health insurers might be more efficient in setting national standards for hospital remuneration,preventing the hospital consultants and hospitals from inflating costs. It would pay them to develop sophisticated databases on efficient treatments and they could have enough economies of scale to afford second opinion advice of medical specialists in pricing of treatments and decisions on whether treatments are advisable.

The mutual funds would only cover a limited range of treatments with possibly a requirement for patients to cover part of the costs for minor operations. Doctors visits would be all paid out of pocket ina more deregulated market with more competition. The medical card could be replaced with a graduated coupon system that covers a maximum of 70% of a doctors visits capped at a maximum of 3 visits a month(to prevent abuse) for the lowest earners with the subsidy gradually decreasing as they earn more.

The voucher would cover about 1/4 to 1/3 of a basic private insurance premium for a healthy adult, with no mandates on insurance companies. The only requirement to enter the health insurance market would be to prove sufficient reserves and to strictly adhere to the terms of contract they agree with their customers.

[patslatt]

The mutual funds would only cover a limited range of treatments with possibly a requirement for patients to cover part of the costs for minor operations. Doctors visits would be all paid out of pocket ina more deregulated market with more competition. The medical card could be replaced with a graduated coupon system that covers a maximum of 70% of a doctors visits capped at a maximum of 3 visits a month(to prevent abuse) for the lowest earners with the subsidy gradually decreasing as they earn more.

The voucher would cover about 1/4 to 1/3 of a basic private insurance premium for a healthy adult, with no mandates on insurance companies. The only requirement to enter the health insurance market would be to prove sufficient reserves and to strictly adhere to the terms of contract they agree with their customers.

Health care must be provided within the budget of medical card holders who are half the population. But there must be some financial deterrents to medical hypochondria,the world's biggest industry.

[patslatt]

Can never be sorted as long as we try to run 2 systems side by side. I consultants want to work in private system then they should go and work in private hospitals. let vhi, quinn, aviva run their own hospitals for day to day care and but whatever specialist services the need from public system. Dr Consultants etc should not have 2 masters either they work in private system or public.

Given the extreme shortage of medical consultant specialists,a legacy of government cost cutting for a generation,the public system would implode if consultants went fully private. Possibly,we could recruit German and Dutch English speaking consultants who make half the salaries of the Irish but that would be too radical for the government establishment.

[nakatomi]

The jobs are open to British consultants , why not go an advertising campaign in the UK,
"Work harder in a worse system, with less resources , for less pay with higher tax, and probable pay cuts to come"


Have a look at what the specialists are earning in Canada, UK, Australia and US because thats where Irish specialists are going to, plus you don't have the knockers you have here.
Public only jobs in Australia pay double and have half the tax.
http://www.wave.com.au/job-list.aspx...621&Seniority=


So why the hell would you think german or dutch specialists would come here?
They could earn 4 times as much in a properly funded health care system.

[antcon]

The jobs are open to British consultants , why not go an advertising campaign in the UK,
"Work harder in a worse system, with less resources , for less pay with higher tax, and probable pay cuts to come"


Have a look at what the specialists are earning in Canada, UK, Australia and US because thats where Irish specialists are going to, plus you don't
have the knockers you have here.
Public only jobs in Australia pay double and have half the tax.
Medical Jobs | Locum Jobs for Doctors | Australia, New Zealand, Sydney

So why the hell would you think german or dutch specialists would come here?
They could earn 4 times as much in a properly funded health care system.

you should be reported for that post. How dare you?! CONSULTANTS ARE BAD OVERPAID BABY-EATING MONSTERS M'KAY! That's all there is to it.

You will never get an answer to the question you posed but expect a barrage of stuff about closed shops and when you rebut that with facts they just slink away.