Establish a voluntary program for doctors and patients who wish to participate: Affordable Healthcare Initiative (AHI).
Healthcare providers will display or publish cash or pre-paid fees for 20 most commonly provided services, with a brief description of each service (such as time spent with patient during office visit, single encounter fee, or global fee for a procedure, etc.); prices of other services available on request.
Establish an expectation that fees will be pre-paid (a deposit or retainer) before the medical service is provided, or pre-authorized on a credit card like at many gas stations, guaranteeing a reservation at a hotel when making a reservation, or giving a credit card on checking in at a hotel.
Immediately after the medical service is provided, a refund of unused funds will be made.
If more services are needed than originally anticipated/higher cost than amount of original deposit, the provider will inform the patient before additional services are performed (like auto repair), and ask for additional deposit before proceeding. If the patient does not wish to proceed, the provider will give a written brief outline of findings up to that point, and recommended additional care that the patient can take to another provider, or return to the same provider later for continued care. If it is in the middle of a procedure, or an emergency, the provider will continue to provide care, and ask for payment right after the visit, or bill the patient for additional costs, per an agreement made before starting care.
If patients wish, deposits can be left on file to pay for healthcare provider personally providing discussion of lab results, arrangements for additional diagnostic or referral services, or giving medical instructions to the patient or family on the telephone.
Legal requirements to continue care to a patient will be changed so providers will not be forced to care for patients who do not pay for the services provided. (Change in the laws regarding abandonment of patients during care of a condition).
Providers will indicate if they will bill, or rebill, services to a patient's insurance company as a convenience to the patient, without liability for whether the claim is paid or not.
Providers will keep, and make available on a quarterly basis, the amounts of deposits paid, costs of services, amounts returned to patients after providing services, frequency and amounts of additional payments made because of additional/unanticipated services provided.
Lists of providers participating in the Affordable Healthcare Initiative will be published.
Have state contract for prices for phamaceuticals for all Californians.