We spend more on health care than any industrialized country, for worse results. Despite our amazing science, we rank 37th or 38th in overall quality of care.
How do we take the things we love about the current system, fix the things that don’t work?
People have insurance, pay into it for years, then suddenly they aren’t covered.
JK just had hip surgery. Why do you have to fill out the same form every time you go to a doctor? Why can’t we make that unnecessary?
47 million Americans don’t have any health insurance, 87 million don’t have coverage for some period of time each year. People may say “that’s their problem”, but we all pay for them anyway.
Some shows of hands:
Medicare – a bunch of folks
VA care – a few folks
Employer-paid insurance – most people in the room
Individual-purchase plan – a few
Whose premiums have gone up? Most
Whose copayments have gone up? Most
Whose benefits have declined? Most
“That’s the American story.”
$440 Billion/year for employer paid health insurance now
$885 Billion/year for employer paid health insurance in 10 years if we do nothing…
Senator talking about facts vs fiction when it comes to Healthcare Reform
But “there are intractable facts.” How do we do this effectively, maintaining freedom of choice? How do we make sure people have care, even when they can’t afford it, so that we don’t all pay for it later.
Our diets aren’t so great. We don’t teach wellness and prevention early enough in life – we could save billions of dollars… People are starting to find ways to encourage wellness in the workplace – program for $50 per pound lost at one company…
And thank you Bowes3 for posting ’cause I could not be there …
Good to see. Thank you.