From my America Out Loud podcast with Grace-Marie Turner – https://www.americaoutloud.news/grace-marie-turner-new-in-healthcare-policy-in-washington-dc/
A few years ago, Jimmy McMillan ran for mayor of New York with the slogan “the rent is too damn high.” We have been saying the same thing about the cost of medical care for years. Presidents change, the Congressional majorities change, but nothing truly useful gets done. Oh, you say, we had the Affordable Care Act. Some more people got a path to have health insurance policy in their file cabinet but their out-of-pocket costs remained high and the national total expenditures continued to rise.
Yes, the system is expensive and it is way too complicated. There are so many permutations and combinations of deductibles, benefits, co-pays that the average Joe or Jane would not know which insurance policy to choose. Fortunately, for many people, their employer is the person who has to deal with selecting a policy. Unfortunately, having health care tied to employment leaves you one layoff away from your doctor.
Additionally, insurers’ attempts to save money may cost the system more. They deny a more expensive medicine for a cheaper one that does not work as well and the patient stays ill longer, thus costing the system more in the long run.
And what ever happened to an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and simple things are simple? Insurers routinely do not include many preventive strategies, over-the-counter remedies and home care. Washington’s policies do not encourage us to pay directly for basic care. Paying directly allows us to get what we need, when we need it, and from whom we choose to get goods and services.
But is more federal government ruminating and intervention the answer? Doubtful. Improving the system will take looking at not only the theoretical but the practical by talking with health care professionals and patients who are doing the work and paying the bills.
My guest and I will discuss what’s going on in Washington DC. on the health care front.
Link to Galen Institute website: https://galen.org
Link to Galen Institute “Healthcare Choices 2020” solutions: https://galen.org/2020/health-care-choices-2020/
Link to Republican Study Committee “Framework for Personalized Affordable Healthcare”: https://rsc-hern.house.gov/framework-for-personalized-affordable-care?mc_cid=275db3c5ca&mc_eid=da57c10447
Bio
Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a non-profit research organization focusing on achieving affordable health coverage and care for all Americans, especially the most vulnerable. She is founder of the Health Policy Consensus Group that is a place for analysts from market-oriented think tanks around the country to get together and develop policy recommendations. Ms. Turner has also have served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as an appointee to the Medicaid Commission, and as a congressional appointee to the Long Term Care Commission.
