America's Healthcare Solution: An Investment in Your Future

Over the past two decades, corporations have reaped financial rewards from America s bubble economy at the expense of working-class Americans. This has led to a long period of economic inequality. Now that the previous illusiveness of the bubble economy has been exposed, millions of Americans are jobless and without hope. Many are victims of unfair trade policies and a suppressed minimum wage. Others are victims of years of neglect by Washington, as well as the boundless greed and criminal mischief from Wall Street.

America s long period of declining living standards can no longer be masked by the inexpensive labor of illegal aliens, two-income households, and record debt. As it stands today, America is in the midst of the most devastating financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Despite what you may read and hear from the media, the banking crisis is not America s number one problem. It is but a short-term issue that will be remedied. Healthcare is absolutely the single biggest problem facing America. You don t need to look far in order to see the effects of America s healthcare crisis. The high cost of healthcare is destroying the finances of both consumers and employers alike, while compromising the health of millions. While employers struggle to remain globally competitive, healthcare costs continue to grow at three times the inflation rate and twice the rate of economic growth. This has forced companies to drop coverage, shift more out-of-pocket expenses to employees, freeze pensions, or outsource work to contractors both domestically and overseas.

Washington should be ashamed and humiliated. In no other nation can an illness send you into bankruptcy. America s profit-driven healthcare system is the most costly, yet least accessible and most inefficient in the world. Despite spending significantly less on healthcare, most developed nations have achieved longer life expectancies, lower infant mortality rates and higher levels of consumer satisfaction with their healthcare system. It is now time for the United States of America to design a healthcare system for the people rather than the profiteers.

But there is a solution that does not depend upon a universal or free market approach. To be clear, I am not necessarily advocating a system of universal healthcare. I am advocating a certain minimal level of very basic care that can be held in balance with a free market healthcare system. Moral issues aside, it just makes economic sense when you consider that many chronic illnesses and deadly diseases can be abated at a low cost if basic medical goods and services are provided. Otherwise, small ailments for those without medical insurance often progress into life-threatening emergencies, which are paid for by taxpayers. The problem is that America has neither a basic level of care nor a real free market healthcare system. In this book, I provide solutions for these deficiencies.

Regardless of the future direction of healthcare, it is clear that telemedicine will be an integral part of America s healthcare solution. Moreover, telemedicine will facilitate cost-effective access to medical services, improve clinical outcomes, deliver more resources for both providers and consumers, and slash costs.

Without immediate and radical change, America s poorly designed healthcare system will add further to the nation s economic decline. If, in fact, the current free market healthcare system cannot be modified to provide more coverage at a lower cost per capita, universal healthcare may become the only feasible alternative. Thus, it is in the best interest of providers to restructure the system if their aim is to minimize further government control.