By Ray Suarez
On Point (7/6/17)
The most expensive, least efficient health care model in the developed world is ours. How did we get here?
During debates over health care it was often said the U.S. has the best health care system in the world. But Americans are sicker, die younger, and pay more for care than their peers in other wealthy nations. There’s still an intense battle over the future of insurance. How did we get here? This hour On Point: The road Americans took to an expensive and inefficient system. Is it too late to change course?
Guests
- Noam Levey, national health care reporter for the Los Angeles Times. (@NoamLevey)
- Christy Ford Chapin, professor of 20th century political history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Author of the recent New York Times piece, “How Did Health Care Get to Be Such A Mess?” (@christyfchapin)
- Wendell Potter, former health insurance industry executive. Author of, “How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans.” (@wendellpotter)
(Commoner Call photo by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free to use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )
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From The On Point Reading List:
New York Times: How Did Health Care Get to Be Such a Mess? — “The problem with American health care is not the care. It’s the insurance. Both parties have stumbled to enact comprehensive health care reform because they insist on patching up a rickety, malfunctioning model. The insurance company model drives up prices and fragments care. Rather than rejecting this jerry-built structure, the Democrats’ Obamacare legislation simply added a cracked support beam or two. The Republican bill will knock those out to focus on spackling other dilapidated parts of the system.”
Washington Post: At parades and protests, GOP lawmakers get earful about health care — “For the 15th year, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) spent July 4 marching through this town of 1,331, a short boat ride away from Canada. She walked and waved, next to marching bands and Shriner-driven lobster boats. Her constituents cheered — and then asked whether she would vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act.”
Business Insider: A coalition of the most advanced countries summed up what’s wrong with America’s healthcare system in 2 points — “Some of the most notable issues plaguing the US healthcare system include its failure to properly treat people with chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes, its failure to provide coverage for low-income people and people of color, its dismal vaccination rates, and the soaring cost of life-saving drugs.”
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Profit Above All Else: Why The U.S. Pays Far, Far More For Health Care Than The Rest Of The World
It’s all about needless complexity and $3 trillion corporate monopoly.
Why are American health care costs by far the highest in the world? Journalist and former practicing physician Elisabeth Rosenthal chronicles how we got here in her new book, “An American Sickness.” Economics correspondent Paul Solman talks with Rosenthal about the forces driving high prices and what could be done to bring costs down.