FixHealthCarePolicy

In the Green Room: Helen Evans on How Government-Run Health Care Works

In 1948 the United Kingdom sent a leaflet to every home in the country stating that the newly created National Health Service would provide everyone with “all medical, dental and nursing care. Everyone – rich or poor, man, woman or child – can use it or any part of it.” Today’s NHS, however, has created a far different reality.

“We are seeing a healthcare system that is rationing people’s care by waiting lists, that is relying on people dying on waiting lists so that they don’t have to have their care funded,” said Helen Evans, President of Nurses for Reform, a pan-European network of nurses dedicated to consumer-led reform of British, European and other healthcare systems around the world. “We have a government who are allegedly trying to work down our waiting lists and they think it is good that somebody will be seen within 18 weeks of referral to a specialist.” (more…)

Tags: consumer-oriented reform of European health care systems, free market health care reform, Helen Evans, in the Green Room, Nurses for Reform, Obama Health Care Plan, pelosi health bill, President of Nurses for Reform

In the Green Room: Dr. Norm Thurston, Utah’s Free Market Health Reform Architect

Dr. Norm Thurston is doing something extraordinary: he’s implementing consumer-driven health care fixes in Utah. When many employers recently started dropping health benefits the state reacted with reforms that make costs predictable for both employers and consumers. Predictability depends on accurate information for all sides. The Utah Health Exchange makes this possible. Here’s how it works:

Companies choose a fixed amount to contribute toward employee health benefits. Employees contribute pretax money from their own paychecks, and they can make contributions from a spouse’s job or a second employer as well. (more…)

Tags: Barack Obama, consumer centered health care, consumer choice, free market health care reform, health care reform, health insurance, health insurance exchange, in the Green Room, norm thurston, Obama Health Care Plan, senate health care bill, utah health exchange