An employee of our Accounting dept. just vented to me about his experience trying to get the Dept. of Defense to pay an invoice for $14K.
So the Dept. of Defense has a nifty web site that vendors are supposed to submit their invoices through. However, the web site will automatically reject an invoice if it doesn’t match up with a “receiving document” in their system. This document gets created after they receive our merchandise. In this case, they received it on Aug. 3, and three weeks later, still no document. Therefore, we cannot submit an invoice.
The worst part about this is that when we call, the only rep available is a guy who has a hardly understandable middle-eastern accent (does the govt outsource their customer service?). After numerous calls, he tells our guy that he doesn’t have time to sit on the phone and walk us through the process of submitting an invoice. What else is he supposed to be doing?
When our guy asks to speak to a supervisor, he says that he is the supervisor and that there is no one else to talk to. (I suggested that our guy ask to speak to a subordinate, since the pattern of promoting incompetent people is rampant in the government).
So, after three weeks, we still can’t submit our invoice and get the money that is owed to us from the Federal government.
Now, I know it’s a stretch, but try to imagine what the process will be like submitting a claim to the government for a $14K medical procedure–oh, and imagine a middle-eastern accent: “I’m sorry, sir, but you’re going to have to submit your claim online…I understand you don’t have Internet access at home…I understand that you are 78 years old and can’t drive yourself to the local library to use the Internet. I’m sorry sir, but until we receive the bill from the doctor’s office and it shows up in the system which takes between 4-8 weeks, your claim will be rejected by the system. Sir, I’m sorry, but I don’t have time to sit here on the phone and walk you through the process. Good bye.”
Wanna know what the main problem is: No fear. The government employee has no fear of losing his/her job. They have no reason to be helpful because your satisfaction or lack thereof has no effect on their paycheck.
Now, I know that a call to a big insurance company might sound very similar (except maybe without the accent) today, but if the government would get rid of restrictions on buying insurance across state lines, then it might put some fear into the insurance companies when I threaten to take my business elsewhere. That kind of threat will be completely impossible to make once our health care system is run by the government.
Get rid of government regulation! Let the market drive down prices naturally! The only thing a government system should do (and I suggest this should be done by the states) is maintain a special relief fund that helps people with severe pre-existing conditions afford their premiums. That’s it. The pre-existing conditions issue is the only piece of the puzzle that a capitalist approach can’t support, since no company would take on high-risk clients without charging them an arm and a leg (no pun intended). Therefore, this is the only place where government might step in.