What if the patient doesn't agree to the treatment the doctor prescribes? Under the current system, patients have the freedom to take medication / treatments if they want to or get a second opinion. There often also isn't a clear "best choice" in treatment or treatments without risks.
Ultimately, we can't have a system where people are given whatever treatment is necessary to keep them alive. There has to be some limit as to what treatments can be given based off of how cost effective they are.
No one should be paid for doing essentially nothing. If a patient is healthy (we're not even going to get into a discussion about what "healthy" means), a doctor shouldn't be paid just because of that. Even if they run tests, if the patient is healthy, you're just wasting resources that could've been diverted to sick patients. You also can't control when a person gets sick or injured, even if you saw a doctor every day.
Originally Posted by jbravo_123
All these questions work pretty much the same way now.
If one doesn't agree with the doctors opinion, get a second one. And either keep the current doctor or switch to the new one. Their will always be doctors with differing opinions sooner would just pick a doctor they agree with.
I don't know about you. For me, I love living. I don't want my decision to stay alive or success rates to be based on what's most cost effective. I want it to be made on what is going to work. At some point though, hopefully logic would take over and a 90 year old that needs a new heart wouldn't request that from his doctor. Although I don't see why it shouldn't be his right.
What do you think incsurance companies get paid for? They get paid do to nothing until something tragic happens. They get paid incase shit happens. The thinking is similiar, the doctor gets paid to keep you healthy until something happens. then it is free. Now a doctor doesn't get paid until something bad happens. I would rather the incentive be to keep me healthy. It would be impossible to control all sickness or injury. A lot of sickness could be helped. Just a few examples. Say someone went to the doctor monthly and the doctor noticed weight gain or weight loss every visit. That could be a discussion that their might be some things to so now to prevent long term health issues. So instead of going to the doctor and him saying you need to lose fifty pounds. He the doctor says lose 5 lbs. Second example, what if someone is a closet alcoholic. The doctor might see a trend in change in liver enzymes and be able to get the patient help before they go into kidney failure.
The minor shift from changing a doctor to treating illness, to preventing illness would be huge.
Instead of paying an insurance company those payments would go to a doctor. I would guess their would be some kind of required reserves the doctor was required to maintain like a bank.
It would work.