Out of the thick dust cloud caused by Haven Healthcare’s recent implosion, a key question about US healthcare once again rises: Can free market principles create greater value for patients and purchasers? Can our adored “free market” approach make healthcare more reliable? More affordable? Or will it continue to “foster inefficiency and “erode quality?” Read Article
As it is with men, so it is with properly functioning marketplaces: enlightened purchasers of a proactive nature can alter a given market’s course, and thus, the “foreshadowed ends” which will otherwise come about. Read Article
The word “ambiguous” means something very different than I thought. I thought it meant “unclear,” or “imprecise,” or perhaps “subject to interpretation.” It doesn’t. It actually refers to something can have two alternative meanings or mean two entirely different things. (Think “ambidextrous.”) As such, an ambiguous word can misinform and even mislead. Read Article
The Overwhelming, Increasingly Self-Imposed Healthcare Cost Burden Employers Bear Read Article
For the last 30 years, the way we’ve purchased healthcare and provided health benefits has provided powerful financial incentives for hospitals to consolidate into financially-focused health juggernauts that have almost single-mindedly chased the rewards of highly compensated services and elective procedures. Read Article
“The U.S. spends at least 7 percent more of its GDP on health care than other rich countries, on average, leaving us with less to spend on infrastructure and defense, houses and education, and other worthwhile governmental and personal pursuits. And we have little to show for it.” Read Article