Please take this quick survey on the impact of approaches to reducing unnecessary overspending on health benefits

All the items mentioned in the survey will have a modest impact at best. Until health care providers start identifying and treating the root cause of illness and dysfunction instead of suppressing symptoms with drugs and procedures, the current inflation trend line may may moderate -- but will not fundamentally change. Without the adoption of a functional medicine platform, payor support of such and a willingness by individuals to reverse or better manage their chronic diseases through lifestyle changes, we will be left to nibble around the edges of this devastating problem.

I think some of the problems we have in health care is the over-management of people. I reject any ideas that do not allow people freedom of choice. Managed care has been a rip-off and the quality of care is low. In fact, when I was having my first baby many years ago, I am glad that I could choose a PPO doctor (even though PPOs are now a boondoggle as well) in contrast to a managed care OB/GYN I had gone to when dealing with infertility because the managed care doctor was always anxious to do whatever he had to do and get out. He did not welcome questions. On the other hand, the PPO doctor I had for my daughter's birth, who had no ties to managed care, actually made a habit of asking me if I had any questions. Then, when my baby was delivered, he stuck around long enough to observe that something was not right and diagnosed me with toxemia, and then ordered an IV treatment. His astute observation may have saved me from pre-eclampsia and death. These days even PPOs are a rip though because the supposed "discount" insurers are getting from many network contracting doctors and hospitals is based on a very phony original charge inflated well above a reasonable profit.