前幾天我們提到新加坡醫療,本次文章深入了解一下,大概我們分了四部分來完成對整個新加坡醫療的分析。
原文來自《財富》雜志,後面會附上英文,原文內容大量引用了肖恩·弗林的書籍,主要在與美國醫療進行比對,我們都知道美國醫療費用高昂,書籍中對美國和新加坡不同醫療體系作出了分析和對比,本篇文章看完後可能會意猶未盡,別著急我們後面還有三和四。
肖恩·馬薩基·弗林很重要的而且到目前爲止很大程度上被忽視了的書籍《The Cure That Works 》(萊格尼裏出版公司出版,售價28.99美元)以簡單直白的形式給出了答案。
“醫療確實可以便宜又優質,且人人都能輕易享有。”
最主要的是:擁有安全保障的資本主義起到了作用,新加坡擁有世界上最具自由市場導向性的醫療體系。
相比之下,美國是一個三方體系——醫療提供方、病人以及保險公司/政府。
且第三方是這裏的驅動者。例如,醫院知道他們的收入更多的取決于他們與保險公司談判的好壞,而不是病人的滿意程度。
這導致了一個非常奇怪的局面——價格幾乎從未被公開過!
在新加坡,醫療動力是一個兩方體系。病人說了算,就像幾乎所有其他市場的消費者一樣。從本質上說,所有員工都將他們工資的一部分存入相當于健康儲蓄賬戶的賬戶裏。
但不是政府擁有這些資産。
員工自己從這個賬戶拿錢支付高額的醫療保險費,以及常規醫療支出。沒花完的錢還在這個賬戶裏,且繼續增長。因爲大部分人都沒有慢性疾病,這些賬戶的總體價值增長,並且現在其價值幾乎相當于該國近四年半的年度醫療支出總額。
新加坡這一體系的另一個關鍵因素:所有衛生保健提供者,包括藥房,都必須公開所有價目。泰諾藥片中沒有隱藏的25美元費用!賬單很簡單,所以顧客們能夠清楚了解他的錢花在了哪些地方。醫院和診所爲了生意而競爭,因此,他們以低價提供優質服務。
如果你想住豪華病房,你得付額外的錢;如果你要住普通病房,類似軍隊營房一樣的房間,和其他病人同住,那麽你就能省錢。但令人驚訝的是,不管你選擇住哪一種,對你的護理都是一樣的,因爲收入的關系,護理質量沒有區別。將這種價格透明度與美國的進行對比。
弗林直接將我們的情況比作一個第三世界的集市,在那裏你爲了一件商品而和商人討價還價。
如果不浪費大量的時間,就很難與其他商家進行價格比較。
Sean Masaki Flynn’s extraordinarily important—and, so far, largely ignored—
book The Cure That Works (Regnery, $28.99) gives the answers in straightforward prose.
You’ll be rubbing your eyes in disbelief: Health care can indeed be inexpensive, first-rate and easily accessible to everyone.
The bottom line: Capitalism with safety nets works! Singapore has the most free-market-oriented medical system anywhere.
The U.S., in contrast, has a third-party system—providers, patients and insurers/government.
And it’s the third parties that are the drivers here. Hospitals, for instance,
know their revenues depend more on how well they negotiate with insurers than on how well they satisfy patients.
This leads to the utterly strange situation of prices almost never being posted!?
In Singapore the dynamic is a two-party system. The patient is in charge, just as the consumer is in almost every other market.
Essentially, all workers pay a chunk of their salary into the equivalent of a health savings account.
But they—not the government—own the assets. From that account an employee pays premiums for insurance
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to cover catastrophically expensive medical conditions as well as routine medical expenses.
What isn’t spent remains in the account and grows. Because most people don’t suffer from chronic conditions,
the overall value of these accounts increases, and they now equal nearly four and a half years’ worth of the country’s total yearly medical outlays.
Another crucial factor in Singapore’s system: All health care providers, including pharmacies, must post the prices of everything.
No hidden $25 charge for a Tylenol pill! Bills are simple so that the customer understands exactly what he or she is being charged for.
Hospitals and clinics compete for a patient’s business; thus, they provide good service at low cost.
If you want a fancy hospital room, you’ll pay extra; if you want a bare-bones one,
where you’re in a space resembling an army barracks with plenty of other patients, you’ll save money.
But what’s amazing is that regardless of your choice, the care is the same! There’s no distinction in the quality of care because of income.
Contrast this pricing transparency with what we have in the U.S.
Flynn rightly compares our situation with a Third World bazaar, where you haggle with a merchant for an item.
It’s hard to make price comparisons with other merchants without spending an inordinate amount of time.