Where Is Healthcare Working in America? The Answer Will Surprise You
INTERVIEW ON THE PRICE OF BUSINESS SHOW, MEDIA PARTNER OF THIS SITE.
Recently Kevin Price, Host of the nationally syndicated Price of Business Show, interviewed Dr. David Wilcox.
Health Transparency: The Real Truth with Dr. David Wilcox
The American Healthcare System is dead last in quality outcomes when compared to 17 industrialized nations. Not only are we dead last but we pay double the amount for these poor quality outcomes. This is because the American Healthcare System is set up to make a profit for the various entities vying for your healthcare dollars. With insurance companies having little to no regulations it’s like the Wild West out there especially if you have little to no healthcare knowledge.
This begs the question, is there anywhere in the American Healthcare System in which healthcare is working? It turns out the answer is yes so let’s take a look at where that is and why it’s working.
If anyone has served or has a loved one who has served in the armed forces you are probably familiar with the Veteran’s Administration or VA. The healthcare model that the VA uses reduces costs, provides decent quality outcomes, and focuses on the patient. There are of course exceptions, but the VA model, for the most part, has healthcare down.
According to multiple studies, the Veterans Administration (VA) generally delivers healthcare quality that is comparable or superior to non-VA healthcare, often performing better in measures of inpatient safety, mortality, and effectiveness of care, while sometimes showing lower performance on readmission rates and certain patient experience metrics. The research indicates that VA care is often considered equal to or better than non-VA care across various clinical areas including surgical care and non-surgical care.
But here is the kicker. The VA system is one of the few socialized medicine models in the American Healthcare System. Others include the Military Healthcare System and the Indian Health Service.
In the strictest sense, socialized medicine is government-administered care for limited populations. While you might think Medicare or Medicaid would fall into this model they don’t as both programs depend on privately employed provider practices or hospitals to deliver care. In the VA system, the government owns the facilities and employs the health care providers making it a single payor system.
According to a patient satisfaction survey the VA outperformed non-VA hospitals in the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems star ratings, with 79% of VA facilities receiving a summary star rating of 4 or 5 stars compared to 40% of non-VA hospitals.
Socialized medicine always gets a bad rap and that’s probably because of the examples surrounding us such as the Canadian Healthcare System. But the VA Healthcare System doesn’t require long waits or deliver inadequate healthcare so what is the difference?
In a capitalistic model, there is competition that wants your healthcare business. As an example, if you are a veteran and you need to get hip surgery you can elect to get it done at the VA for little to no cost. Or perhaps you have reviewed the quality outcomes at your local VA hospital and found them to be inferior to a local Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) and elect to get your surgery there with some cost out of pocket. The point is that you won’t have to wait as the VA has to compete with the ASC and therefore must have a similar model to get you in quickly for your surgery.
If we have a system such as the VA that is working and fits under the umbrella of socialized medicine why are we not learning and applying the lessons learned to the bulk of the American Healthcare System? After all, it’s cost effective and has the potential to deliver better quality outcomes.
The answer to that question is that healthcare in America is a 3 trillion dollar business. Insurance makes mega profits brokering your ability to receive healthcare. While you faithfully pay your premiums trying to get reimbursement for any kind of major healthcare crisis is often difficult. Insurance companies don’t want you to know about systems such as the VA and pay lobbyists on Capital Hill who provide campaign dollars to elected officials on both sides of the aisle to ensure the broken model that delivers healthcare in America remains intact.
For the foreseeable future, it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight. It would take a revamping of the American Healthcare System to center on care as opposed to profit to deliver any tangible results. It will take the people of America to demand that elected officials look out for their best interests in the healthcare space as opposed to their campaign contributions. That becomes an individual and collective decision that we as American’s have to make.
According to a statement, “Healthcare is complex and that is not an accident. It is complex by the healthcare entities vying for your healthcare dollars. Covid has exacerbated the American Healthcare System, which was fragile, to begin with. Many clinicians are leaving healthcare due to burnout. How does the average layperson navigate the complexities of the American Healthcare System where a prescription could cost you $5 at one pharmacy and $500 at another? What does the average layperson do when their insurance company rejects their claim? Proactive education of the American Healthcare System prior to accessing it is the key to safely navigating the healthcare system. Until now, little information has been available to provide the layperson with the knowledge they need to be a better partner in their health care. Dr. David Wilcox’s book How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival” is a game-changer and will provide you with the skill set you need to navigate the American Healthcare System.
Website: https://drdavidwilcox.com/
Dr. Wilcox is a Doctorate prepared nurse who also holds a Masters in Health Administration and is Board Certified in Nursing Informatics. Dr. Wilcox has 28 years of healthcare experience in which he worked as a bedside nurse, hospital administrator, and in healthcare information technology which has helped him to develop his unique perspective on the American Healthcare System.
Dr. Wilcox is the author of the book “How to Avoid Being a Victim of the American Healthcare System: A Patient’s Handbook for Survival (2021)” available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578878364
Dr. Wilcox currently resides in North Carolina with his wife and their three dogs.
Dr Wilcox’s website: Dr. David Wilcox – Healthcare, American Healthcare System (drdavidwilcox.com)
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