Since we have to wait until June to hear the Supreme Court’s decision about the Affordable Care Act, let’s not ignore the fact that despite what happens, there’s still a huge health care problem. (chart with large numbers below) So let’s look past the anticipation of a decision and look at some quotes from those immersed in health care from practitioner, economic, analysis, and business standpoints.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary. National Health Expenditure Accounts – Projected, Table 1: National Health Expenditures; Aggregate and Per Capita Amounts, Percent Distribution, and Average Annual Percent Growth, by Source of Funds: Calendar Years 2003-2018.
11 Quotes About The Future of Health Care
Kevin Joseph, MD, 37, vice president of UC Health and CEO and president of UC Health West Chester Hospital in Ohio
“I am skeptical that everything that the Accountable Care Act is stating that it will accomplish will actually occur. I don’t think the health savings will be what they’re proposed to be. I think that it’s also going to cost more to implement their plans and what is expected.”
Dr. Jonathan Gruber is a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works
“Losing the mandate means continuing with our unfair individual insurance markets in a world where employer-based insurance is rapidly disappearing.”
Source: Academic Built Case for Mandate in Health Care Law
Jonathan Oberlander, author of The Political Life of Medicare and a professor of social medicine and health policy and management at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Q: Do you foresee big changes in the near future — politically difficult decisions that will rein in costs?
A: I’m a Red Sox fan, so I believe in miracles. But in the short term, the answer is no. We will build on our existing system — it’s what we have, and it is too difficult to move away from it. Two or three decades from now, nobody knows.
Source: The ABC’s of the Health Care Law and Its Future
Sally C. Pipes is president of the Pacific Research Institute and author of The Pipes Plan: The Top Ten Ways to Dismantle Obamacare.
“If the entire law is struck down by the Court, I think it will be very positive for Congress to prepare a health-care bill that will lead to affordable, accessible, quality care for all Americans. Obamacare will not lead to universal coverage and will not bend the cost curve down. The CBO recently estimated that the cost of Obamacare will almost be $1.76 trillion from 2012 to 2022. It is a far cry from the president’s desire for a plan that cost $900 billion over ten years. The real cost will probably exceed $2.6 trillion over the decade 2014 to 2024.”
Source: Post-Court Report: Sally Pipes on the Future of Health-Care Reform in America
Matt Montgomery, senior vice president at Buxton, a market planning and marketing services firm for various industries including healthcare.
“The reality is that healthcare providers are moving to a consumer-oriented approach for care,” says Mr. Montgomery. “The consumer-oriented model — convenient access — is really a retail model in terms of placement of services. The healthcare industry will see an increasingly significant intersection with retail.”
Source: Three Predictions for the Future of US Healthcare
Joe Lupica, chairman at Newpoint Healthcare Advisors, a healthcare management consulting firm
“Today’s healthcare CEO is told to fill beds. I think tomorrow’s CEO will be told to empty beds. You’ll have to keep your community healthy and out of the hospital. Hospitals will have to team up with other providers and payers to transform the service model – again.”
Source: Three Predictions for the Future of US Healthcare
Bobbi Coluni, senior director for consumer innovations at Thomson Reuters
“One specific factor driving the high cost of healthcare is the significant price variation – sometimes more than 100 percent – for the same healthcare services in the same geographic market, said, in a recently issued report claiming consumers could reduce health care costs $36 billion a year with full pricing transparency.
Source: The Plot To Keep Health Care Prices from Consumers
International Data Corp. Health Insights analyst Scott Lundstrom
“There’s a huge increase in demand for health care, but the delivery model is inherently inefficient. Companies are looking to how to optimize the quality of almost everything.”
Source: Numbers, Numbers and More Numbers
Richard Merkin, president and chief executive of Heritage Provider Network
“Hospitalizations are very expensive and cost this country a lot of the resources we’re using in health care. Imagine if you could effectively predict who was going to be hospitalized. You could reallocate resources to prevent unnecessary hospitalization and put those resources to use for cure rather than care.”
Source: Numbers, Numbers and More Numbers
Dr. Nease, the Express Scripts chief scientist
Twitter: @bobnease
“There’s a huge amount of waste in the system. Advanced analytics allows you to be much more sophisticated in where you intervene and with what.”
Source: Numbers, Numbers and More Numbers
