Health care reform is flawed. Here are some better ways to fix it.

By Michael G. Manes

PPACA will not protect patients and it won't make care affordable. It adds 2,000-plus pages of legislation, hundreds of thousands of pages of regulation and enough lawyers, consultants and actuaries to fill fleets of large cruise ships.

The system we have today is not sustainable and neither is PPACA. The marketplace has two years to find a solution. What follows is opinion:

Traditional health care and health care financing are houses divided. The patients using care want it all. Premium payers and taxpayers funding these costs are looking to reduce expenses. Typically, 5 percent of the population consumes more than 50 percent of the costs.

Third-party reimbursement (Medicare, Medicaid and insurance) has insulated and isolated the users from the direct cost for care and the spreading of the premiums and taxes over nearly the entire population allowed "payers" to ignore the problem we have.

Providers are paid for sickness instead of being rewarded for wellness. Defensive medicine and malpractices issues encourage more care than is necessary. Patients have bestowed a "god-like" power to practitioners and so they rarely challenge the provider of services about the costs or necessity of care.

Our system has evolved from a holistic "Marcus Welby" model to a system of "organs du jour." Our cultural desire for instant gratification seeks care immediately, not allowing the body to heal itself (which it often does). Super-specialization offers some advantages but this comes at a substantial cost.

There aren't enough MDs to meet tomorrow's needs yet the politics of yesterday is limiting the ability of other qualified professionals to maximize their expertise and help fill this shortfall.

As individuals we are made up of mind, body and spirit. The majority of illness and many accidents originate in the head. This includes issues of stress, addiction, mental and nervous conditions, hypochondria, loneliness, distraction, etc. Studies also show clear evidence of the healing power of prayer for those that believe. Our delivery and financing systems were built to reward treatment of illness with few incentives for wellness, limited reimbursement for issues of the head and ignored the soul.

Read more from the original source:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Will Do Neither