The United States Equalitarian Party (USEP) believes emergency and primary (e.g., immunizations, screening, acute care, preventative, etc.) medical care is an affluent nation’s societal responsibility. This type of care, viewed by the USEP as a type of Medicare for all, would be called Community Medical Care (CMC). CMC’s principal purpose would be to protect and ensure medical wellness of all U.S. citizens as close to as possible to the community where they live.
CMC would not be a complete health-care solution — rather it would be one part of a hybrid two track system (public and private) formed from attributes of four well known healthcare systems in place around the world. Working together, the government (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS]) and the individual would share responsibility for the condition of a citizen’s medical wellness.
In that cooperative spirit, the USEP would still expect citizens to maintain some level of private medical insurance — especially in the areas of long-term care, elective, and cosmetic based procedures / programs. This dual track system will provide a basic, but assured level of citizen care while preventing the dismantling or destroy today’s private health care system or those government medical operations choosing to remain independent.
CMC would be considered a social maintenance program and funded similar to America’s Social Security Program, where citizen payroll deductions (separate from income tax) would form the bulk of the program’s operating funds. Additional funding would come from Federal and State encouraged / incentivized philanthropy (corporate and personal), punitive damages received from medical litigation (e.g. malpractice, negligence, etc.), self-pay schedules, and confiscation of criminal activity funds / assets.
Federal Funds would be distributed to individual states based on a per capita basis (think of the difference between the populations in Wyoming and Florida) but used by the states to meet their individual need. Federal and State organizations would share responsibility for oversight to prevent fraud / misallocation of CMC funds.
Personal CMC enrollment and coverage would begin at the legally determined age of majority / adulthood and last through retirement until death. Those electing not to enroll in the CMC would still have CMC deductions taken from their paycheck and be free to pursue alternative private health care solutions. Care provided by CMC personnel to those not enrolled into the program (e.g., when provide during travel or other contingencies) would be paid for at CMC scheduled rates. Veterans Administration medical operations would remain unchanged.
Medical Service before Self
The USEP believes serving in the medical field should be done in the spirit of altruism and not for the promise of maximized financial gain. Going into the health profession believing the maintenance and preservation of human life is a business venture tantamount to a merchant’s is shameful and its practice morally offensive. The USEP begrudges no one a good paycheck nor the opportunity to earn an ample profit — that said, the party believes both those things should come after the prioritized care of a fellow human being.
Responding to the Increased Demand for Health Professionals
Any increase in the level and quality of care for citizens will likely precipitate an increase in the demand for qualified healthcare professionals (i.e., Doctors Physician Assistants, Nurses, Medical Technicians, etc.). To meet expected needs the USEP proposes a dual track (private and public) path to professional medical certification.
The first path would follow the current methodology for fielding doctors into nation right now. The second path would model and expand the United States Uniformed Services University’s (USU) methodology to create a federally funded medical corps (e.g., AMEDICORP) focused on providing certified emergency and primary care professionals to patients receiving CMC.
Medical student’s choosing this path would graduate without student loan debt but be required to serve the nation through service. For example, the newly graduated medical professional would have to provide dedicated CMC service for a fixed number of years. Alternatively, they might be able to serve CMC patients in the morning and private paying patients in the afternoon or vice versa for twice that period. Consideration for reduced obligations could also be considered / evaluated for those volunteering to serve in significantly underserved communities (e.g., stressed urban locales and remote rural locations).
The USEP see initial CMC professionals graduating from the USU or existing Federal schools and installations like the U.S. military academies at West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs, but envisions State Medical Schools modeled after the USU’s.
Medical providers serving their obligated time in state or federal medical programs will be registered in a national database for service in times of national disaster or war extending to U.S. shores. Those professionals having received training from the DHHS, but refusing to serve the CMC would incur a Federal Student Loan Debt equivalent to the average national university attendance and certification fee.
Protecting Patients and Providers from Malpractice / Excessive Litigation
CMC provided by the state will be exempt from punitive damages sought during litigation. Individual patient compensation in cases where negligence or malpractice is proven in connection with Federal or State provided CMC would be limited to three times the calculated real damages received (e.g., current lifetime salary loss) Compensation would from the Federal or State provider at fault.
CMC Requirements (Patient and Provider)
Patients receiving CMC would:
- Agree to the CMC and their State Department of Motor Vehicles offices sharing data on a default “Yes”, opt-out “No”, organ donation program. A request not to donate organs will be done when applying for / renewing driver’s licenses.
- Agree to compensation limits (e.g., negligence, malpractice, etc.) set to three times the calculated real damages received (e.g., current lifetime salary loss).
- Agree to determinations made by trained and certified DHHS medical professionals as to the type of programs, procedures, practices, and payment schedules relative to the care they can or cannot provide in their capacity as a CMC care provider.
Providers receiving DHHS training and certification through the medical corps would be:
- Required to provide medical care to CMC recipients in accordance with the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (i.e. without discrimination based on their race, sex, color, or national origin).
- Prohibited from, and charged with, reporting the abuse of genetic based products, patents, or practices. CMC professional in the service of DHHS medical corps will be prohibited from all market based activities (e.g., trade, sale, auction etc.) connected living organisms / organs.
- Agree to Federal and State determination of programs, procedures, practices, and payment schedules falling under emergency, primary, and elective medical care in the conduct of their duty. For example, cosmetic surgery, considered elective surgery by the USEP, would not be paid for by the state — except in those cases where the disfigurement of the person deprives them from independent function and integration into the labor market — to include obtaining a reasonable appearance. Examples of cosmetic surgery covered by the state include skin grafting needed as a result of burns, correction of cleft pallet, breast replacement required as a consequence of cancer, etc. Examples of cosmetic surgery that will not be federally or state funded include elective breast augmentation, aesthetic rhinoplasty, radial (laser) keratotomy, tattoo removal, etc.)
Want to lean more? Want to become an Equalitarian? Want to know how to help our efforts? Visit the USEP website at: www.usep.net