The American public remains too much in the dark and confused about the way our $4 trillion-plus healthcare economy works. Meanwhile, the costs continue to rise — premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket expenses, taxes, employer contributions, weak wages, and salary increases because of employer contributions — and the public pays more and more while receiving less and less.
Gaining access to quality care is becoming harder. Polls show that patient frustration is steadily rising, along with dissatisfaction over the severely limited time with a physician when one finally reaches the examination room.
How did we get here?
Typically, blame is placed on parts of the system that the consumer of medical care can see — physicians, insurers, and the drug manufacturers (aka Big Pharma).
Consumers have a sense of being gouged by a system that can’t continue without some form of intervention.
But the reality of our $3.6 trillion-plus healthcare economy is vastly more complicated than what the consumer sees. It’s largely in the shadows where the general public never glances and doesn’t have the time to penetrate and peel back the layers; but that’s where the special interests, the lobbyists, the politicians, and the regulators play.
The $3.6 trillion-plus healthcare economy lies in the shadows where the general public doesn’t have the time to penetrate and peel back the layers; but that’s where special interests, lobbyists, politicians, and regulators play. Click To Tweet
Do you think that fully repealing “Obamacare” will lead us to paradise?
How about “Medicare for All,” something along the lines of the nationalized healthcare systems seen in other countries? Is that the path to Healthcare Heaven?
