
2008 NPC and CPPCC to be held soon, I hope to conduct a major reform of Medicare, so that medical resources are shifted from the disease, health, from treatment to prevention, from drug shift nutrition, from the rich to the poor would like to …… this article dedicated to two! – West Wood Dr.
Nishiki medical insurance reform initiated by Dr.
- Establishment of Health Savings Accounts
Excerpt from “west Oak Nutrition Revolution”
(Expected in July 2008 published)
In addition to food politics and medicine politics, impeding the development of other vitamins and nutrients a major obstacle to the medical insurance system, it is highly correlated with the drug politics. The existing health insurance system to protect the interests of pharmaceutical companies, discrimination, nutritional supplements and natural therapy; there is a serious moral hazard, the growth of excessive medical care; “robbing the poor to the rich”, the self-employed persons excluded. We need a thorough reform of health care insurance system, or the spread of sub-health and chronic diseases will not be under effective control, nutritional supplements, natural therapies and health management will not be properly developed.
We know that pay for health insurance costs are usually neither the doctor nor the patient, but a third party – the employer or insurance company, which doctors tend to patients, prescribe more expensive drugs, over medical care is difficult to avoid. On the other hand, employers and employees generally do not have long-term relationship, now that the Chinese average tenure of employees is estimated that only 2-3 years, employers are usually only concerned about whether the employee’s illness and recovery during his tenure, rather than care for their separation in 2023 later it is still healthy. Therefore, employers often have an incentive to employees to purchase short-term medical insurance, but no interest in long-term investment in health of employees. A good health care insurance system must be designed to take into account these issues.
China’s existing medical insurance system do? It does not address the patient and the employer’s short-term behavior problems, and discrimination, freelancers, and unemployed, described as “robbing the poor to the rich.” Why do I say that? Because in the existing health-care and tax system, through employer-provided health insurance exempt from income tax, while the freelance medical expenses or individuals to purchase health insurance and can not offset the income tax.
Not only that, our existing health-care system, focusing on prevention of discrimination and health management, in essence, supports the “treatment-based.” Under the existing laws and policies, medical insurance, and those so-called “health insurance” can only be reimbursed drugs, surgery and treatment cost, and not reimbursed medical, diet, fitness, vitamins, nutrition and health counseling and other preventive expenditures . The irony is that, from the Mao era to the present, from government officials and experts to the ordinary people, we are all singing “prevention first” high-profile, everyone was waiting for illness, and then rely on Medicare to life-saving medical treatment. To ignore the advice of the World Health Organization, have forgotten 60% of the lifestyle determinants of health, but only looking at the determinants of health 8% of the medical conditions.
Summary terms, the existing health insurance system has five major drawbacks, or “five crimes”:
Emphasis on disease, light healthy
Re-treatment, than on preventing
Emphasis on drugs, light-nutrient
Robbing the poor to rich
Contribute to excessive health care
In the existing health insurance system, medical expenses growing faster than the economy and income growth. According to the Ministry of Health statistics, in 2004, health spending has become the third largest expenditure of the residents, living an average of one hospital to spend a year’s income of the residents, nearly half of the residents are sick not to a hospital. “People’s Daily” reported that due to sickness and poverty-stricken people accounted for 20-30% of the poverty-stricken population. [ "Public Nutrition and socio-economic development" on page 15]
The good news is that a new and great health care insurance system – the health savings accounts (Health Savings Account,
HSA) was born, and both fair and efficient. HSA began in South Africa, improve the United States, popular in developed countries, is currently the medical insurance reform, the inevitable choice.
Health savings accounts (HSA) is a personal or family through accounts established by employers or insurance companies, the owner may be an employee, it can be self-employed professional persons; the amount of annual savings of limitations be 100% exempt from income tax; can be paid with the medical -related projects, including surgery and drugs can also pay health-related projects, including weight loss, fitness, vitamins and nutrition, diet advice, etc.; can now spend, you can spend in the future, you can change with the transfer of the employer, you can also inheritance.
HAS should be combined with a high-pay (deductible) amount of low-premium health insurance policies, so that the premium savings can be deposited into health savings accounts and catastrophic health care spending by insurance companies to pay. In other words, HSA is to have a high-deductible health insurance, who set up the future of health savings plan to allow an annual deposit a certain amount of money used to pay for routine or future medical and health costs. Usually HSA mainly to cover the amount of low-cost, high frequency of medical and health projects, medical and health insurance is mainly for high-cost credits, low-frequency (and “catastrophic”), medical and health projects, from his own pocket to pay for medical and health projects between between the two, see the diagram:
In 1993, South Africa, the first implementation of HAS, and has made an unexpected huge success. Today, HAS have occupied two-thirds of South Africa’s private health insurance market. HSA relevant U.S. laws have been on January 1, 2004 into effect, it is considered to be the United States a revolution in the field of health care, in order to control soaring medical costs for many years to bring before the unprecedented hope. HSA to the beneficiaries of the main benefits are as follows:
Discretionary
Retained in the HSA balance will gradually accumulate in the account where the money belongs to individuals. I can draw at any time, but also can choose a suitable doctor, hospital, eye or dental protection, weight loss plans, fitness plans, nutrition, health care consulting, health management, massage therapy and a variety of natural therapy. In China, this means that the option should be accompanied by traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, health, health care, diet, and physical therapy and so on. After 65 years of age, HAS in the sum could be used other than medical and health spending. Before the age of 65, you can put the money in the HSA for general consumption, just need to pay 10% of the fine.
Completely tax-free
HSA money can be deposited in the total amount deducted from the taxable, income tax, pay tax, inheritance tax-free. In other words, HAS is a 100% tax-free.
Invest money in the HSA can be limited to investing in fixed income accounts, mutual funds, stocks or bonds.
The long-term retention
HSA is very convenient, whether it is the replacement or retirement are not affected, HSA will always be accompanied by the designated beneficiary of the account. If the beneficiary’s death, this part of the ownership of the funds will be transferred to heirs.
From the social point of view, health savings accounts can overcome the drawbacks of the existing health insurance system, the top five, with five benefits or advantages:
Equal emphasis on disease and health
Equal emphasis on treatment and prevention of
Equal emphasis on drugs and nutrition
Rich and poor, non-discriminatory
Self-control medical costs
[Reference: "public financial management" in 2006 02, "Fortune fifth wave" of Chapter VII, the U.S. Treasury Department official website 2008-2-7] my recent play Sina micro-Bo, cool, very trendy. In a word, a picture, at any time so that you know the most fresh I am. click on the following link to register, and I work together to Wan Ba! http://t.sina.com.cn/reg.php?inviteCode=1236930591