Health care costs are out of control. Here is one of the solutions on how I’d go about fixing this problem that is crippling startups.
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The advent of managed care, and the “copay” has to have had an impact on rising health care cost. As long as people (myself included) can run to the doctor for $10-25 every time they have a runny nose (understanding that someone has to pay for that), we will have over-utilization that leads to unnecessarily high expenses that ultimately get passed back to the employer/individual in the form of higher health insurance rates. I agree that if everyone had to pay a flat fee directly to the doctor for every visit, they would be more judicious about deciding whether or not to engage our healthcare system.
Agree 100% with Bobby and Brad here. I commented on Bobby’s original rant on this topic that the solution will be rooted in the public viewing health care insurance for what it is, worst case scenario insurance (think home and auto insurance)…not the means to pay for health insurance. To pile on Brad’s comment, I firmly believe that because of managed care and “copay’s” most people (who’s premiums are largely paid by their employers) have no idea of just how much health care actually costs. They’ve been conditioned to believe health insurance and health care costs are one in the same. Even though they may get the hc provider invoices and explanation of benefits, most never look at them closely to see what the top-line costs actually are. And if they do take the time to try and understand that bill, they don’t really comprehend how much this adds up over the course of the year. I’ll use myself to prove this point… After leaving my corporate job in 2010 to co-found my business I went on COBRA which essentially guarantees the extension of the same corporate policy I had…but I now I had to pay 100% of the premium. That was wake-up call #`1…as I went from paying $330/month to about $1,000/mth plus a heavy deductible. Wake up call #2 came when COBRA expired and I had to apply for an individual plan to cover my family of 5. When you sign an employment agreement to work for a company, you simply pick the HC insurance plan you want, then you are automatically enrolled in the managed care plan that Brad references. Takes a few clicks and about a day. Applications and acceptance for individual plans in 2011 took about 45-60 days…and then I was paying the equivalent of a tax adjusted $30,000 salary to cover my family…and we are a very healthy family. Wakeup call #3 came over the following years as I watched the premiums and deductibles take off with the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). All of which made sticking with my start-up business incredibly difficult in the early years (to Bobby’s original rant). Keep in mind that I have college degree in health care management, a MBA in finance, and worked for one of the largest banks in the country for years. So you’d think none of this would be a surprise to me. But it WAS. It wasn’t until I had to pay 100% of the escalating premiums/deductibles that I truly FELT the true cost of healthcare. When the masses start paying 10x more for routine health care they will FEEL it change their disposable income…demand will go down quick.
Lee great story and awesome insight. A must read from you for all founders out there. You figured it out – many don’t or never try. Thanks for the comment!
Good points Bro. Speaking of over-utilization – doing away with plaintiff lawsuits would also help.