America's Health Care Crisis Solved

Dan Perrin is the author of HSA Road Rules, known as the bible of the HSA industry by bankers and insurers. He is President of the HSA Coalition and is widely acknowledged to have been a key player in the passage of every piece of HSA legislation that has made its way through Congress and been signed into law by the President in the last decade. Perrin is one of the nation's top HSA experts and has been quoted on the subject in every major newspaper in the United States.

• Preface xiiiIntroduction xviiPART 1 REALITIESChapter 1 No Money, No Health Care 3Who Can Afford to Get Sick? 3A Helicopter View of Health Care Financing 4The Good Bad News 5No More Business as Usual 6Chapter 2 Why the Money’s Running Out 9No Room at the Inn 9Standard Operating Procedure 10The Motive Is Profit 11The Problem Is Greed 12On the Front Lines with Nora Johnson 13Chapter 3 A New Scarlet Letter 21A Lady in Red 21Who Are the Uninsured? 22The Danger of Secondhand Smoke 23Injustice for All 23Chapter 4 Why Nationalized Health Care Is No Cure-All 27The HMO Idea 27An Idea Rejected 28Phoenix Rising? 28HillaryCare II 29O Canada 33The Cost of Inefficiency 35God Save the Queen 36Look No Further 37New York, New York 37Florida, Here We Come 38The Evidence Speaks 39PART II STRATEGIESChapter 5 Fair Care 43Three Keys to Make Fair Care Work 45Congressional Action 47Two Crucial Points on Fair Care 48Fair Care Effect on Employers 48Fair Care Effect on Employees 48The State of the Union Proposal 48Chapter 6 Give Seniors What They Want (and Save Money Doing It): An Innovative Approach to Medicare 51Part D of Medicare: Prescription Drugs for Seniors 52The Future of Medicare 53Defining the Terms 53Drug Money 54An Unfunded Mandate 55A Bureaucratic Snafu 55Cost Comparison 56Saving the U.S. Treasury Money 59How Much Could Our Country Save? 60Give Seniors What They Want 61Too Good to Be True? 61How Much Money in Each Senior’s Hands? 62Chapter 7 Give Control to Consumers through HSAs 65Back to the Future 65One Experience 66HSAs Today 67A Quick Overview 67Health Care Freedom 69A Dollar-for-Dollar Comparison 70The Best Interest of the Consumer 70An IRA on Steroids 72The Truth Be Told 73A Word about Family Deductibles 76Republicans versus Democrats 76A Legitimate HSA Weakness 79Three Mistakes Employers Make 79A Response to Mr. Rangel 81What Does the Evidence Say? 82A Side Note 83What Congress Still Needs to Do 83Chapter 8 Establish Fair Medical Prices 87Which Price Tag? 87What’s a Reasonable Price? 89What Can We Conclude? 91How to Defend Yourself against Hospital Harassment 91What’s a UB-04 or a UB-92? 95Where to Get the Medicare Information 96Now You’re a Royal Pain 97Sounds Good, But Does It Work? 98Do You Need a Lawyer? 99The Key to Health Care Reform 99Chapter 9 Make Medical Prices Transparent: An Innovative Approach to Pricing Health Care 101Between a Rock and a Hard Place 101Why Not Be Honest? 102Cost Reporting 102Truth Detector 103Do Hospitals Lose Money on the Uninsured? 103Who’s Losing Money? 104Are We Really Too Dumb to Understand? 104What Needs to Change 105Legislation Now Pending 106Medicare Starts to Move 107And Not Just the Hospitals 107Chapter 10 Build Risk Pools: An Innovative Approach to Individual Health Insurance 109New York State of Mind 109No Picnic in the Garden State 110Ferrari Pricing 113One Way to Cope 114Compassion versus Common Sense 114Casting the Net 115Double Incentive 115The Problem for Small Businesses 117A Future Answer for Small Businesses 117A More Immediate Answer 118List Bill 118The Rest of the Story 119Chapter 11 Build a National Marketplace: An Innovative Approach to Individual Health Insurance 121Do You eBay? 122Nothing Matters More 122Roadblocks to Freedom 123Health Care Choice Act 124Not in My Backyard 124An Idea for the People 125Let’s Get It Done 125Chapter 12 Make Basic Health Care Cheaper and More Convenient: An Innovative Approach to Health Care Delivery 127What Is a Quick Care Clinic? 128The Customer Is King 129Calling Dr. Nurse 129“You’ve Got Care” 130Chapter 13 Do It Right the First Time: An Innovative Approach to Wellness 131Dr. Paul Ellwood 131The Right Goal 132The Right Kind of Competition 132It Is Your Health 133Lose the Gatekeepers 133Get Well Soon 134Chapter 14 Wrapping It All Up 135Appendix A Public Testimony of Dr. Gerard Anderson 137Appendix B Memorandum of Case Law Precedents Showing Hospitals Can Charge Only Reasonable Prices 151Appendix C An Example of a Legal Complaint against a Hospital for Unreasonable Charges 155Appendix D Executive Order: Promoting Quality and Efficient Health Care in Federal Government-Administered or -Sponsored Health Care Programs 169Appendix E S.173, Medicare Savings Account Legislation Introduced by U.S. Senator Inhofe (R-OK) and U.S. Senator DeMint (R-SC) 173Appendix F The Common Sense Guide to Health Savings Accounts by Roy Ramthun 179Notes 227Index 237

"A welcome addition to the literature. Unlike many books written on health care these days, this one provides concrete assistance to real consumers. Pat Rooney and Dan Perrin should be congratulated for taking us to the next level of patient empowerment."--Consumers for Health Care Choices