Being in the healthcare industry right now means being in the eye of the storm as healthcare reform continues to inundate the news on a day to day basis. Obviously costs are out of control, hospitals have trouble recruiting physicians, patients continually ask for more healthcare since payers cover most of the costs, and doctors churn through patients since they’re paid based on quantity not quality. Is there one healthcare reform solution that will provide increased access, lowered cost, and improved quality? Magic bullet? Secret sauce?
I don’t know if anyone caught the Meeting of the Minds: The Future of Healthcare this past Monday on CNBC, but it was an interesting debate from the biggest names in industry and government on the healthcare crisis. If you didn’t, check it out:
The debate starts with the basic premise of “what is a life worth?” As the debate goes from one person to the next, you can see the vastly complicated interwoven healthcare system and how these stakeholders in the game have specific constituents they are responding to and hold accountable for. Each of them seems to think he/she has a solution, but none of them can do it alone. And I’m not sure any of these experts can see outside of their own perspective. Maybe if they switch roles – CEO of WellPoint runs Michigan and vice versa – it would help them see healthcare from a different light.
Of course, Mr. Obama makes a guest appearance on the show – what would healthcare reform be without a word from our president? I wish he didn’t make that cameo though so we can have at least one legitimate healthcare discussion without having the president’s influence in the conversation. But I do appreciate his aggressive leadership on this issue even as he continues to lose his political capital pushing this conversation through the government. Anyway, watch the show – leave some comments.
The show will repeat on Sunday August 2nd at 8pm ET and on Monday August 3rd at 9pm ET.
Read the full article: Summer Internship Part 3 – The Future of Healthcare