Most Efficient, Affordable Care
Americans will not be satisfied until the costs of health care and health insurance are affordable. Higher spending in the U.S. relative to other countries does not always correspond to better health outcomes. Facilitating efficient, affordable care is a fundamental matter of fairness and every piece of the puzzle must be examined to ensure that each and every health care dollar earns its full return.
Rising health care costs often cause employers to restrict benefits, ask employees to pay more or be forced to drop coverage altogether. Consumers are flooded with information from so many angles that objective advice can be hard to find. Liability laws designed to protect patients have also increased costs, driving care out of reach. New medicines and innovative technologies have delivered medical breakthroughs but too often costly treatments are chosen over less expensive though equally effective options.
Our challenges are formidable but identifying them is a necessary first step. Now all parties must work together to create a health system that delivers on its promise.
Ideas for Change
Increase Transparency in Health Care
Require health providers, insurers and suppliers to share quality and pricing information with the public so individuals can make better informed decisions.
Compare the Costs and Benefits of New and Existing Technologies and Drugs
Expensive new drugs should be compared not just to a placebo but also to less expensive existing drugs. The creation of technology assessment centers to analyze comparative effectiveness will provide objective information to consumers, providers and insurers.
Manage Chronic Diseases Better
Explicitly fund chronic care management to ensure the most efficient use of resources.
Simplify Public and Private Insurance
Simplify health coverage to ensure patients understand their policies.
Rethink the Medical Liability System
Reform the system to help reduce health care inflation and bring premiums within reach.
Encourage Careers in Medicine to Meet Demand
America should expand math and science programs, expand educational capacity and resources, and teach the skills that our health workforce will require in the coming years and decades.
Action Steps
Contact your elected officials and demand changes in the laws concerning health care transparency and liability.
Support science and math programs, field trips and enrichment activities at schools and colleges in your area.
Links
Disease Management
OptumHealth
Education
Association of American Medical Colleges
Patient Choice
Business Roundtable
Center for Health Transformation
New Drug Approvals
Sister to Sister