Employers are the key to solving this problem, for working class Americans, yet most could care less. They offer cheap medical plans with high deductibles & crappy copayments. Employers are part of the problem. There are a few that have figured this out, but most simply don't care.
I respectfully disagree. It makes no sense for healthcare to be tied to employment. How free is an individual when healthcare is tied to an employer? examples: 'stuck' in a marriage because you need the insurance, "stuck' at your job because you need the insurance. Not free to marry who you want because you could lose deceased spouses' benefits... there has to be a better way to provide insurance to Americans. Employers are unable to provide better insurance due to costs.
Thank you Wendell for continuing to drive this conversation forward. Richard - I could not agree more, that employers are the key. I am the CFO of a medium-sized business (under 1,000 employees). We went from facing a 38% annual increase my first renewal here, to being able to lower premiums and provide a better benefit this year by moving to self-insured and tackling at least some of the conflicts of interest inherent in the status quo with the BUCAs, by piecing together an independent TPA, PBM, concierge service, stop loss and re-pricer whose business models are much better aligned with our company and our employees and their families on our plans. I’m not willing to wait for a government solution that may never come or may put more burden on small employers if it does come. It took a tremendous amount of work to break from the status quo, and we still have a lot more we can do, but I have hope that if there are good options for a smaller employer like us, maybe the tide is starting to turn, maybe...
Employers are the key to solving this problem, for working class Americans, yet most could care less. They offer cheap medical plans with high deductibles & crappy copayments. Employers are part of the problem. There are a few that have figured this out, but most simply don't care.
I respectfully disagree. It makes no sense for healthcare to be tied to employment. How free is an individual when healthcare is tied to an employer? examples: 'stuck' in a marriage because you need the insurance, "stuck' at your job because you need the insurance. Not free to marry who you want because you could lose deceased spouses' benefits... there has to be a better way to provide insurance to Americans. Employers are unable to provide better insurance due to costs.
Thank you Wendell for continuing to drive this conversation forward. Richard - I could not agree more, that employers are the key. I am the CFO of a medium-sized business (under 1,000 employees). We went from facing a 38% annual increase my first renewal here, to being able to lower premiums and provide a better benefit this year by moving to self-insured and tackling at least some of the conflicts of interest inherent in the status quo with the BUCAs, by piecing together an independent TPA, PBM, concierge service, stop loss and re-pricer whose business models are much better aligned with our company and our employees and their families on our plans. I’m not willing to wait for a government solution that may never come or may put more burden on small employers if it does come. It took a tremendous amount of work to break from the status quo, and we still have a lot more we can do, but I have hope that if there are good options for a smaller employer like us, maybe the tide is starting to turn, maybe...
That's how you do it!
Thank you so much for your work! I’m excited to see what you have coming up.