Health Care Inovation Can Solve Crisis

What is wrong with our health care system? To be short, nothing. What is the downfall of our health care system? To be short, government.

Why do I say that? Because government has pretty much eliminated any way for the average person to develop new systems and profit by it. The insurance industry as a whole, is the most regulated industry in our country. Within that industry is the health care and health insurance industry, which is probably the most regulated part of the insurance industry.

Look at it this way. The government gives your employer (not you) a huge deduction for providing health care coverage for you. But only health care. Your employer wont get incentives to offer you car insurance. Your employer wont get government incentives to provide you with legal insurance. In fact you employer wont get government incentives for providing you with most benefits. The only one is health insurance.

By regulation, the government has also made it nearly impossible for the average person to shop around and get health insurance coverage on their own. You don't have the opportunity to shop around for health care coverage like you do auto insurance. You can get great deals on home owner or even renters insurance but you cant get deals on health care coverage of the same magnitude.

Government also makes innovation nearly impossible in health care coverage. Not just anyone can start a health care company. Not just anyone can innovate health care and bring it to market. Lets take a look at legal insurance.

I do not endorse or recommend any of the companies I may mention in this article nor do I have a direct financial stake in these companies.

Pre-paid legal is a Multi-Level Marketing company that provides a sort of legal insurance plan. You can join the company or just purchase the plan from a company member and you will be covered for many legal matters, some of which there is no additional out of pocket cost. Sort of like an HMO for the legal set.

This type of company could never exist in our country with todays laws and regulations. You could not have a true MLM company providing health care coverage. Say what you will about the MLM industry but it has revolutionized many industries in our nation and is responsible for billions of dollars in sales annually.

Take a franchise system. You can franchise just about anything in our country except health insurance. You already know that franchises in our country are hugely successful. They account for about one third of our total GNP. Sure there are some form of franchised health care companies like Health Stop but those are not like a McDonald's or a Rust Check. You have to be a medical professional to have one and they are not insurance plans.

Of course there are all kinds of discount programs out there. Even an MLM version is available. It is called AmeriPlan. But it is not insurance.

You can franchise a real estate company, even though everyone involved needs to be licensed to sell real estate. You can MLM personal financial advise as with Primarica even though all participants who actually sell the stuff have to get financial licenses. You can franchise insurance companies themselves such as State Farm but again you must be licensed.

So if we can franchise other industries that require a license then why can we not franchise, MLM or otherwise open up the health insurance industry so that innovation and competition take hold. So that the American people will have a true choice about their health care. Why do we not have the freedom to chose our health care like we do with just about every other aspect of our life?

The simple answer is government. Get the government out of it and you will see innovation, improved services, lower cost and more people able to afford to access the system. Now that was easy.