United States Healthcare Offers the Worst Value of Any Developed Country

Full Scope Human Longevity

Background

United States healthcare costs the most of any country in the world. Unfortunately, the health of our population and quality of care provided does not support the cost. We offer the worst healthcare value in the entire world (Value = Cost/Quality)! This has to change for the sake of ourselves and our children. The changes needed are simple. But, change is difficult because so many people are making so much money off of our toxic system.

This podcast is not meant to provide clinical medical knowledge. It represents the opinions of the author. It is intended to stimulate thought and conversion.

Some of the major problems are:

1. Lack of Transparency in Pricing

2. Insurance for Every Part of Medical Care (It should not be called insurance anymore)

3. Businesspeople that Provide no Additional Value

4. Regulations that are out of Date, Add Complexity, and Provide No Value

5. Poor Communication by Design

6. Drugs and Diagnostics that are Obscenely High Priced

7. Upside Down Provider Workforce

8. Fear and Defensive Medicine

Ask yourself everyday as a provider:

Would I make such a recommendation to someone in my own family?

Would I want myself to be my own doctor?

9. Upside Down Incentives Regarding Wellness and Disease Prevention

10. Lack of accessibility of providers when patients need them the most

Some of my solutions are:

1. Mandate that all healthcare entities make prices fully transparent

2. Provide medical insurance products that only cover catastrophic care on the individual and group insurance markets. These must be affordable, like 50$ a month or less for young healthy people.

3. Kick most of the businesspeople (suits) out of healthcare. Keep only those individuals who add value.

4. Modernize regulations to reduce regulatory burden.

5. Mandate that EMRs communicate with each other using a universal API.

6. Start paying the same prices for diagnostics and therapeutics that the rest of the developed world pays.

7. Incentivize primary care so that the smartest people enter this field and subsequently practice an extremely broad scope of care.

8. Stop worrying about being sued and start doing what is right for patients.

9. Incentivize preventative medicine and public health by paying for them

10. Develop systems were doctors are available to their patients in times of need. E.g. Direct Primary Care (coming next episode)