Healthcare Sings The Non-Profit Blues

By MICHAEL TURPIN Powers once assumed are never relinquished, just as bureaucracies, once created, never die.Charley Reese As we ponder the 100 day count down to the Presidential Elections, the rhetoric and ranting swirling around the best solution for our nation’s healthcare crisis, is hitting decibel levels not heard since the passage of the Affordable Care Act.  As with any major entitlement legislation, there are commendable elements, inefficiencies, and a host of unintended consequences. The current administration’s obsession with repeal while the ranks of uninsured people grow, begs the question, “what is the blue-print for expanding coverage and reducing waste, fraud and abuse while increasing transparency, quality and overall public health.  Answer: There is no plan and if there was, it would fall well short of achieving many of these objectives given the deeply entrenched stakeholder who actually do not benefit if the cost of healthcare declines.  It a classic NIMBY response: “I’m all for reform as long as I maintain my role and revenue in whatever solution is proposed.”.  The Affordable Care Act is a solid foundation to build a 2.0 version of a solution to solve for the uninsured and to act as a catalyst for market reforms that will either reshape the misaligned incentives and embedded inequities in our current system or it will lead to voters demanding the expansion the role of Medicare and Medicaid.  70M adults and...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Policy Blue Cross Blue Shield Michael Turpin non-profit insurers Source Type: blogs