Making Universal Health Care work?!

Ok, yes I am a libertarian, but I am also curios about how things work and what it would take to make things work.  As such I am willing to learn and try to see if Universal health care can truly be successful in some way shape or form. So here it goes in part 1 of how to make this universal health system work.

Step 1.  Like most changes in society, education will actually be the first thing to change to make universal health care work.  It would require that 13 year olds through 18 year olds go through a health class each and every year (just like English, social studies and math/science classes) that teaches them how to take care of themselves.  As such, the class will deal with biology of the human body with respect to diet, and exercise.  Students will learn about the skeleton, muscles and the digestive system along with our circulatory system to know how to test and cultivate their bodies into the shape and condition they want.  As the course progresses from year to year students will learn meditation and relaxation techniques to reduce stress, improve sleep and deal with societal pressures which all hinder health as we age.  They will learn stretching, and similar techniques as well to retain a nimble and flexible body including proper ways to pick up heavy objects and proper posture. Also included will be training on knowing what foods are healthy in general, when to eat certain foods and overall once they complete this course they will come out knowing everything a nutritionist does.  Likewise these students will have the knowledge and expertise to be physical fitness trainers, yoga instructors and even physical therapists (and maybe even a masseuse).  Additionally, students will learn all about medications and diseases. So they will know when to take what medication if they believe as a last resort that they will need it, and even be able to self-diagnose themselves with respect to simple conditions.  Basically they will be able to ascertain if they need to go to the doctor or not.  This all culminates into a high school graduate that knows all the basics of a doctor and even a pharmacist.

Step 2.  While schools implement step one, step two will be altering the community colleges to provide schooling for students to become a doctor, a nurse, or any other medical professional.  By focusing on this cheaper alternative to private colleges these community colleges (whether free or otherwise) we can increase the supply of doctor’s thus decreasing demand for them and therefore the costs to see them (price to see a doctor is based on supply and demand just like regular goods and services).  However, this alone will not be enough.  The curriculum will be altered as well where all classes/subjects that Medical professionals share in common will be taken together.  So human anatomy, biology and the like will be taken by people in all these disciplines, but in such a way that it reduces the time needed in school without sacrificing the quality of our health care professionals.  These soon to be medical professionals only begin to branch off into specialties later on such as neuro surgeon or pharmacist.  But costs will still need to be saved somehow for this to work, and technology will have the answer for that. 

Online learning will take the place of most of the lectures and reading that is due.  Basically if it can be learned online, then it will be done online so as to save facility costs and also increase access by students to materials the college offers (libraries can also supplement these colleges as access points for people who lack the means to acquire a computer with an internet connection so that they too can take these online classes).  So things like lectures, readings, workbooks, homework, and even quizzes and tests will all be done online so as to limit the costs while improving overall efficiency of the college to impart knowledge.  Once the core classes are done, including classroom time where required, and students shift into their specialties then they will take a series of other online courses in their area of future expertise before they enter the classroom where it will be hands on learning as the college will double as a hospital and medical research laboratory (money for costs must be maximized for this system to really work so combining them into one makes sense).  Additionally, at any time students can take tests to show proficiency in a subject which will allow them to bypass basic classes as they already have the knowledge and expertise needed, again saving the student time and the college money.

The active hospitals on campus allows for students to gain hands on learning experiences while other government funded hospitals will supplement the community colleges when room is an issue to ensure all students can continue with their education.  Private hospitals will rent these students (again to lessen the costs on taxpayers) to supplement their staff with the promise to train students in hands on roles within the hospital themselves including management which they will use to seek to improve the efficiency of their own future health care offices and hospitals they may work in. 

As to the medical laboratory, these community colleges will also conduct research at the behest of drug companies possibly including testing.   These community college medical testing facilities can even double as FDA testing sites so that the students research once completed can immediately go to market to be used to help treat patients (so a portion of the FDA's budget will end up here which again reducing the overall costs).  The drug companies will essentially pay the hospital to perform research and development while the students get hands on skills in medical and drug testing.  Our goal here is to reduce the costs on taxpayers again by drug companies paying our future doctors, and pharmacists to do the work for them to develop drugs and treatments which in turn hopefully will reduce the costs of drugs/treatments as a whole.   Additionally, advertising space will be allowed on campus so that private companies would end up supplementing the government's costs and even further by having corporate sponsored classrooms, research rooms and hospital rooms.

Conclusion to part 1:  Step one focuses on decreasing healthcare costs by addressing the problems with people going to the doctor's office more often thinking that seeing a doctor is free and thus can be abused.  It also plays into the ability to provide preventive medicine by teaching people early on how to prevent diseases and even treat themselves.  Step two provides for cheaper health care by teaching future health professionals in such a way that they spend less time in school and more time actually learning to treat patients.  Additionally, other health professionals can cross train so as to provide multiple health services via this system with for example pharmacists being able to diagnose diseases as well and potentially writing prescriptions or recommending over the counter medications for antibiotics and pain relievers.  This will be the primary steps that will need to be taken to make the universal health care system work.