Dr. Alieta Eck, co-founder of the Zarephath Health Center, President of the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons New (AAPS) Jersey Chapter, and highly-rated physician presented this idea.
Dr. Alieta Eck has testified in Congress about more cost-effective health care delivery.
Recently, Dr. Eck launched her campaign in the Republican Primary to select candidates to replace the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. Click here to see her campaign site for details.
When I looked into Dr. Eck's numbers and then researched further for some more facts, such as those listed below, I began to see substantial savings in physician, hospital, and diagnostics payments.
Much of these savings will be derived from the benefits of more use of primary care physicians for primary care and prevention rather than the emergency rooms for primary care and hospital stays & drugs for late-stage disease & chronic care.
According to the our Dr. Alieta Eck's proposal, New Jersey physicians pay a total of about $300 million annually in medical malpractice insurance premiums.
If all NJ physicians opt in, then NJ State would self-insure (with stop-gap) the equivalent of the $300 million annually. If 10% of NJ physicians opted for the deal, then the State of NJ would self-insure the equivalent of $30 million annually. Of course the actual out-of-pocket costs to the State, likely will be much less.
On the other side of the equation, the state spends a lot on Medicaid and will see substantial savings under this proposal's idea.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's "StateHealthFacts.org":
-- The State of New Jersey pays 48% of residents' Medicaid spending as of 2009.
-- The state of New Jersey spent $10+ billion annually on Medicaid in 2010,
That's right. The State of New Jersey's 48% share of the statewide Medicaid tab runs about $10+ billion annually. A mere 1% savings on that would be $100 million!
More specifically, of that $10+ billion annually spent by the NJ State on Medicaid, the $6+ billion spent on physicians, hospitals, diagnostics, and drugs (acute care) would see savings immediately in year one and even more savings during the next 10+ years, as the greater use of primary care physicians both reduces emergency room visits and hospital stays.
The portion of that paid by Medicaid directly to physicians, an estimated $50 million annually, would be slashed immediately because some physicians, perhaps many physicians, will immediately see the value to them of this deal.
This deal is win-win-win-win. Physicians, patients, Medicaid, and taxpayers all win.
I recommend that my home state of New Jersey, and all states, look at this idea.
This looks like a good deal to me: More available physicians, greater use of primary care physicians, lower State outlay for Medicaid, and lower medical malpractice premiums for participating physicians.
What do you think?
By Steve Reichenstein
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