Americans Know The Score on Health Care – Government Needs to Listen

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that Americans know the problem with U.S. health care is cost rather than increased government involvement (translation: Medicare for All, Universal Health Care, Single Payer Health Care).
 
The government needs to listen (and so do any candidates for office), then empower and enforce transparency and accountability in order to achieve affordability and quality.
 
Not only do Americans know cost is the issue – the U.S. government’s record on practicing medicine without a license is nearing disaster on all fronts, which Jon Stewart’s recent plea for our 9-11 first responders pushed to the forefront for a media moment:

• our promise to 9-11 first responders to cover their health care from the toxic fumes they inhaled during Ground Zero rescues is being broken with 20,000 claims processed so far and 17,000 more claims pending – while the designated funds have run out (thank God a permanent fund has since been set up);
  
• our promise to our 18.2 million veterans to cover their health care for protecting our freedom is being broken;
  
• our promise to Native Americans (serving only 2.2 million out of 5 million) to cover their health care in exchange for, um, taking their land, is being broken;
  
• our promise to our elders (55 million currently enrolled) to cover their health care through Medicare will be insolvent by 2026, with the Government Accountability Office reporting in 2015 that $60 billion – 10% of Medicare’s annual budget – was lost to waste, abuse, fraud and improper payments in that year alone;
  
• and our promise to our poor (72 million people currently enrolled in Medicaid) to cover their health care until they can on their own is consuming 20% of states’ annual budgets, with government’s approved payment amounts to providers so low that many Medicaid patients cannot find doctors or hospitals that will take them – so they end up in emergency rooms or with no care at all.
  

All of this is not lost on we Americans. We have to ask whose lame idea it was to have politicians and their academic policy advisors all illegally practicing medicine without a license in the first place!? In my book, Bill Please: Consumers Driving Health Care, I point out in detail how we all contributed to this fiasco – which also means that together we can all fix it. Could we create health care that operates like other industries and get the government out of all of it? I believe we could!
 
According to the KFF survey, Americans are laser focused on the rubber meeting the road: lowering prescription drug costs, continuing protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and protecting people from surprise medical bills.
 
I’m a broken record on this – but besides keeping the government and academics (and insurers) from illegally practicing medicine without a license, take health insurance out of the equation for just one year, and health care would immediately get fixed. Why? Providers and pharmaceuticals would immediately have to look consumers directly in the eye with 100% transparency and accountability when presenting their prices. That’s, indeed, when the rubber would meet the road. No third-party payer to hide behind, no discount shell game. Game over!
 
In reality, many Americans depend on their health insurance – so how can we achieve this without sending health insurance on a one-year vacation? Demand your government representatives (and candidates) enforce the current consumer advocacy laws already in place, empower virtual care in under-served areas, and require price transparency and quality accountability – then let consumers shop.
 
Sources:
Ashley Kirzinger, Bryan Wu and Mollyann Brodie, 4/24/19, “KFF Health Tracking Poll – April 2019: Surprise Medical Bills and Public’s View of the Supreme Court and Continuing Protections for People with Pre-Existing Conditions,” Kaiser Family Foundation, retrieved 6/18/19 from: https://www.kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-april-2019/
 
Laura Hollis, 6/17/19, “Stewart Speech Shed Light on Larger Health Care Funding Problem,” The Boston Herald, retrieved 6/18/19 from: https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06/14/stewart-speech-shed-light-on-larger-health-care-funding-problem/