Healthcare
Of the ten items we’ve identified that we all need to live a happy life: good quality, affordable healthcare in the U.S. continues to be the most challenging.
Healthcare System
As soon as a group of people identifies what they do as a “system,” you can be assured that it’s an old-school business with all the built-in inefficiencies and lack of change you’d expect.
Our healthcare system includes:
- Medical professionals (doctors, nurses)
- Medical administrators
- Medical industry (prescription medication and equipment)
- Insurance
- Attorneys
- Government
At first glance, this is already a nightmare team steeped in tradition. That’s not to say that most people doing the actual work (medical professionals) don’t have your best interests in mind. They do.
What makes our current system such a mess is the rest of the “team.”
Healthcare Solution
There currently isn’t an overall solution.
But, some noticeable progress has been made toward helping most of us, including the growth of Direct Primary Care (DPC) and Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company.
Direct Primary Care
DPC doctors and nurses are addressing the issue of good quality, affordable healthcare through a monthly subscription payment system without the current bizarre system of payment where your medical insurance is involved in every aspect of medical decisions and payments.
It could be a better system because it generally doesn’t cover specialty doctors, tests, and hospital visits. But it’s a step in the right direction since most people need access to a doctor for routine checkups and when sick.
The other benefit is using technology for administrative tasks (scheduling, billing, virtual doctor visits), which has been around for decades in different industries. It’s both a time and cost savings for us.
Cost Plus Drugs
One of the other major issues is the cost of medicine. Mark Cuban is directly addressing this issue with his new company. When you read his ongoing comments about the challenges of starting and growing the company, it’s a testimony to how entrenched the medical industry and insurance are in the U.S. system.
Healthcare Future
To return healthcare to us, either a major traditional hospital network must adopt the DPC business model or a new DPC hospital network must be launched.
In all likelihood, the inertia is so high for traditional hospital networks that it will be less expensive, faster, and more effective to start a new one from the ground up.