Here’s a headline you would not see in Germany, France, Canada, Japan, England, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, not to mention Norway, Sweden, and Finland:

A day in bankruptcy court would make you sick

In reflecting on what other countries do for health care, it is fascinating the misinformation that is out there.  Germany had private, but nonprofit, insurance companies.  They organize health care around employers, just as we do.  There is one basic benefit package everyone gets; both employers and individuals can buy more. There are over 400 different insurance packages.  Doctors have private practices.  Rates there, like here, are set by the government. 

If someone cannot afford their insurance premiums, the government pays the premium and the individual continues to see their doctor.  There is no major separate public program.

We win the prize as having the best ‘paper care’ system in the world. Rules for what Medicare will and will not cover are thicker than the IRS tax code.  We have the best well-kept paper system in the world. No one knows what they are buying or what it will cover. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.  Think how easy it would be to have one set of benefits and one claim form.  Say goodbye to fleets of rules and regulation that offer no value.  You can do that and still have insurance companies and choices of health plans. 

Save the date: September 18th -- when we launch our Bipartisan Voters’ Health Care Platform.  More consensus exists than we are told by the parties and the press.  We need to act now to tell the candidates what we want and what would work.