I spent most of my time this morning on a zoom conference hosted by the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health titled “Medical Care Commercialization and Affordability in The U.S.: Trends and Responses in Other Countries”.
It was somewhat enlightening, with a focused on how for-profit entities and Private Equity have driven up the cost of healthcare (both in nominal terms and also compared to other countries), while at the same time producing somewhat worse outcomes
I have limited time today, but I want to remind everyone of one of the key reasons the U.S. healthcare “system” (and that term should be used loosely) is inefficient. That is, we really do not have one healthcare system. In fact, we have it all - not in a good way - compared to other countries.
Want British-style National Health Service low-cost true government run healthcare? We’ve got you covered. In the U.S., it’s called the Veterans Administration/TRICARE, and it covers somewhere around 17 million people.
Want Canada-style government-run insurance with private doctors/hospitals? We’ve got you covered. In the U.S., it’s called Medicare (for seniors)/Medicaid (for poor/disadvantaged), and it covers roughly 132 million people.
Want European Style non-profit private insurers with private doctors/hospitals? We’ve got you covered. In the U.S., it’s the non-profit Blue Cross insurance companies, and it covers (very roughly - estimated vary) 90 million people.
And, of course, because American Exceptionalism, we offer what to no other developed country does: private for-profit insurance, primarily employer-based. Think of your company self-insuring, or having insurance through United Healthcare, Aetna or Cigna, and it covers (very roughly - estimated vary) 140 million people
NOTE:
Estimates are that there are 308 million people covered by one of the methods listed above, however The above categories are not mutually exclusive — many Americans have multiple forms of coverage simultaneously (e.g., Medicare + Medicaid, or VA + employer insurance), so the total in the above examples adds up to more than 308 million.
Primary Sources: Congressional Research Service and United States Census Bureau
And, again because American Exceptionalism, what we DO NOT have when compared to every other developed country is universal coverage.
Have to run - more to come on this topic and the pain (literally) that for-profit entities and private equity inflict on not just our healthcare system, but on individual people in our country.
