How To Trick People Into Caring About Healthcare

Byadmin

a or bIn health policy circles (yes, those exist!), experts often refer to three aims for a modern healthcare system – to offer (1) universal access to (2) high quality medical care at (3) an affordable cost. Access, quality, and cost: a possibly unachievable set of goals, certainly in the U.S., where the quality of our care is decent (but uneven), while access to care and the high cost of our care compare dismally to almost every other developed country.
Suppose you were fixing the U.S. healthcare system and realized that increasing access to care would make it harder to control costs. Which of the three aims would you make your priority? I asked this question to a couple groups of people. One group came out strongly in favor of access, the other in favor of cost control. Can you guess who these two groups of people were?
I asked a group of undergrads at Duke to make the same guess. These undergraduates were taking my health policy course, and with that background were able to make some good guesses. Those prioritizing access: Some thought it might be a rural population with limited access to subspecialists. Others thought it might be a poor population with little access to health insurance. Those prioritizing costs: Some thought these might be fiscal conservatives, others thought they were large employers trying to hold down the cost of employee benefits. These were all really good guesses. Only one problem with them… (Read more and comment at Forbes)

Similar Posts

  • 150,000 Walt Disney Employees Denied Mental Health Coverage – A Headline from the Future

    Byadmin

    Newswire Services, April 11, 2015: Breaking News


    Since purchasing the Walt Disney Company six months ago, the Church of Scientologyhas been slowly remaking that venerable institution, in an effort to promote their ambitious religious mission. In the pipeline are an unprecedented number of science fiction films and John Travolta/Tom Cruise buddy movies, changes that have been surprisingly popular among movie fans.
    But now the church is making a change that is not so popular. It has decided that Disney employees will no longer receive insurance coverage for psychiatric care or any medications used to treat mental illness: “Psychiatrists are the enemy of the people,” stated Church spokesperson Walter McGee. “The church opposes their brutal, inhumane treatments and refuses to pay for such services because they collide with our religious beliefs.”
    Many Disney employees are up in arms over this decision. But the church is unrelenting in its position: “If people want to receive devil-care, they can either pay their own money or find a job somewhere else,” said McGee.
    Critics blame the situation on a decision made by President Obama in February of 2012. Early that month, he had announced regulations that would require health insurance companies to cover contraception, with exceptions for churches that oppose birth control but not for larger church run organizations such as hospitals or universities. The Roman Catholic Church cried foul, claiming that their religious freedom was being violated. In response to pressure, the Obama administration quickly backed off on its policy, broadening the religious exception to any church owned business that was run as part of the church’s broader religious mission.
    That shift in policy opened an opportunity for religious organizations to carve a broader set of services out of their health insurance plans. The Jehovah’s Witnesses had gained ownership of Wal-Mart in late 2013, and soon employees of that company (at least the ones who get health insurance) no longer received coverage for blood transfusions. An Orthodox Jewish organization became majority owners of Ace Hardware in early 2014, and now employees of that company no longer receive insurance coverage for insulin products that are derived from pork.
    The Church of Scientology is undeterred by critics who claim that treatments like antipsychotic medications and antidepressants ought to be part of any basic health insurance plan. “America is the land of religious freedom,” he explains “a place where the government has no right to stand between a church and its employees.”
    Who could argue with that logic?

  • Healthcare for the Uninsured Is Wasteful (For a Surprising Reason)

    Byadmin

    Shutterstock American physicians dole out lots of unnecessary medical care to their patients. They prescribe things like antibiotics for people with viral infections, order expensive CT scans for patients with transitory back pain, and obtain screening EKGs for people with no signs or symptoms of heart disease. Some critics even accuse physicians of ordering such…

  • Is Federal Policy Really to Blame for the High Cost of Cancer Care?

    Byadmin

    (Photo By BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images) U.S. healthcare costs have been high for decades, outpacing other developed countries since at least the 1980s. But costs continue to rise, and that is causing many experts to ask why. Some people blame federal policies. As an example, they point to reimbursement policies that create incentives for healthcare providers…

  • Bait and Switch: The Sneaky Way Your Employer Just Passed Healthcare Costs onto You

    Byadmin

    Shutterstock If you get health insurance through your job, beware: you might be picking up more of the cost of your medical care than you realize. With increasing frequency, employers are directing their workers to the kind of high deductible, high out-of-pocket insurance plans that leave workers financially responsible for a surprising portion of their…