Jon Searles

Healthcare and Your Cell Phone



Posted: Saturday, August 08, 2009

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The current state of the healthcare industry in our country seems to point to a very dysfunctional relationship between the healthcare industry, the government, and the people that require any type of medical service (which coincidently is all of us at some point in our lives). Hospitals were always places where the doctors and nurses worked to selflessly rendered aid to those that needed attention. They were thought of as men and women of unquestionable integrity who worked tirelessly to protect their fellow man. That nave thought process on my part forgot that there is a driving force that ultimately requires a profit be made by the doctors, nurses, support staff, and hospitals in this industry. From my perspective the government is now trying to fix an industry whose costs are out of control and their desperate attempt to fix the problem is to hastily pass anything they can to see how it might grow and evolve from misguided and warped legislation. With that in mind, I have the perfect way to fix health care.

Here is an idea. Let's tie everyone's healthcare plan to their cell phone bill! That's right, every cell phone contract would have healthcare as a required standard in the contract. Since we are obsessed with staying in touch with each other it is only natural that we find something that people actually feel that they cannot live without as a basis for this argument. I have $8.00 an hour employees that currently do not take on their portion of healthcare costs through my company but do not blink an eye at a $175 a month cell phone bill. Since healthcare is not currently in the American mindset as an essential staple in the budgets of Americans, let's tie healthcare to the cell phone industry. AT & T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, among others, will simply alter the bill to reflect current monthly charges to include healthcare. Plans and packages would be developed to increase or decrease a level of coverage allowed for each individual. Imagine being able to get 300 minutes a month and up to 3 visits to the doctor free, or unlimited text messaging would give you a free yearly physical and a $20 co pay.

The cell phone and healthcare industries could increase coverage, increase profits, and work to develop an amazing symbiotic business relationship.

IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE- When babies are born in the US we could immediately assign a phone number to that child and add coverage to the parent's cell bill. Every child would have coverage and, along with diapers, and sanitary wipes, be given their first cell phone.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CURRENT BILLING LANGUAGE- My AT & T cell phone bill is not the easiest to understand and we could use this poor understanding of charges to ensure the people are properly covered. For example how many of us actually know what "Universal Connectivity charge" or "Carrier cost recovery fee" actually does. We could add in "Universal Healthcare Option" and "Public cost recovery fee" which would be collected and go directly to executive bonuses.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CURRENT ELECTRONIC INFRASTRUCTURE- If people want to complain, there is already a labyrinth of automated phone answering networks in place that ask you to "press one for problems with your bill, press 2 for English or press 3 to exit the system."

MERGE LARGE CORPORATIONS THAT CAN EASILY BE BAILED OUT BY THE GOVERNMENT AT A LATER DATE- Blue Cross and Blue Shield could merge with Verizon to form the first 3G Healthcare Network.

CREATIVE PLANS AND PACKAGES WOULD BE EASILY DEVELOPED- The best plan would allow nationwide long distance roaming to any hospital in the nation. Unlimited texting would let you pick a private hospital room and better food. Basic local plans would only let you place calls to hospitals, doctors, and friends inside your local calling area. Even pay as you go style phones could offer a level of healthcare coverage to those that don't want the monthly bill but want to know an emergency room will at least take their call.

ROLLOVER WOULD TAKE ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING- Along with rollover minutes we would have roll over premiums. If you do not use your medical coverage to its full potential, you could build up premiums in your rollover account that would allow you to use at a later date for a catastrophic illness or a nice elective cosmetic procedure.

MARKETING SYNERGIES IN PREVENTIVE MEDICINE WOULD ALLOW PEOPLE TO GET THE BEST TECHNOLOGY- Marketing experts could offer a rebate on the newest Apple I Phone for everyone who scheduled a colonoscopy or similar diagnostic procedure during the promotion period. We could even buy phones that have options such as blood pressure checking and test strips for diabetes.

DEDUCTIBLES AND PENALTIES FOR IMPROPER CELL PHONE USE- If it is determined your injuries were incurred because you were talking on your cell phone or texting while driving a motor vehicle, you would be denied medical coverage for the injury.

I am working to build support for this plan and hope that the powerful men and women in Washington will take this seriously as they work to pass healthcare legislation. This is definitely not a socialist style approach and it embraces all that capitalism has to offer. There will be some that cannot afford a cell phone but chances are it is fewer than currently have not health insurance.

Ask yourself, is this more viable than what is currently being discussed by Congress?

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