Healthcare and the Entrepreneur

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItdAcG5mNEw

How will the new health care law impact you? Are you one of those who love the new law, or one of those who hate it? Few are anywhere in between!

Unless you have been in a coma, you clearly have seen all the fallout and predictions from the new health care plan. And from what I can see, most are accurate. Jobs will be lost, taxes will increase (dramatically), and care will be reduced for MOST people.

While the new legislation is advertised as helping everyone get health care by offering another entitlement, the general feel of the current Congress is hugely anti-business. There seems to be an insatiable need to punish those who prosper for the sake of those who are barely getting by.

But, how will entrepreneurs respond?

Who will REALLY win in the end?

One of the things I love about the American spirit is the ability we have to overcome things. No matter what is thrown at us – we tend to rise above it. Something deep inside of us  knows that we are free to choose and we will choose how we respond to anything. We have always been that way – in fact it is the very foundation of our nation. (Read the Declaration of Indepenence to see. No seriously – read it!)

This is what I see happening:

1. Government regulation brings red tape. This red tape means filing and complicated language. I see CPA’s and consultancies getting in the middle of the government, the people, and companies to help “translate” what the legislation says and help us all to comply.
2. Medical professionals will seek out new ways to serve. Even before this came into law, some doctors where dropping their practice where they are seeing hundreds of patients per day each for a max of five minutes and then chasing the insurance providers for the money. Instead they are seeing new opportunity to provide a higher level of care for those people who will pre-pay for medical care. So instead of paying each time I see the doc, I pay a flat $5000 per year – and see him whenever I want! My money, my doc. The result is the doctors get to have more control of their time, see fewer patients, and put up with less insurance and government red tape. The patients get much better health care. Expect to see this practice of pre-paid or cash paid health care services move into overdrive.
3. Medical tourism will grow even larger. In the past 10 years people have already been taking advantage of traveling all over the world to receive quality health care for a better price. For instance, a heart bypass in the US can cost $30,000. In India it can cost $5000 – and you get some of the top docs in the world. Brazil is a favorite destination for cosmetic surgery. The wealthy have already done this for years  – but now we will see a great export of the US health care system to other countries as many Americans decide they would prefer to be treated like kings instead of being treated like cattle.
4. New US industries will arise to help Americans take advantage of the new cash dotors and the new growth in medical tourism. Expect to see people get rich offering one-stop shopping and websites with doctor reviews.
5. Banks will have a whole new lending strategy, offering health care loans to those who wish to take advantage of these new alternatives but just do not have the cash to do so.
6. Of course, there will be many who take advantage of things in the law – such as the requirements that doctors move to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) . New services will be offered by new companies which will help the U.S. health care system become up-to-date with technology.

Even if the new law gets repealed and something else replaces it, the rush of activity resulting from the new law is likely to change the landscape of the American Health Care forever.

So take heart America – no matter how Congress attempts to mess you up – Americans will leap to find a silver lining!