This week’s episode features slices from a recent conversation I had with Matthew Holt, who is, among many other things, the founder of The Health Care Blog, co-founder of the Health 2.0 universe of conferences, now leading SMACK.health, an advisory and consulting network in healthcare and health tech.
If you want to know about what’s happening in health IT and technology, ask Matthew.
No, really, just ask him - not only does he KNOW, he knows it really fucking WELL. Like, he’s totally OG in WTF is going on in HIT. Fo’ realsies.
OECD social spending with bar graph - Financial Times
https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/11/27/2053392/welfare-spending-across-the-oecd/
US spending since 1960 - Statista
https://www.statista.com/statistics/184968/us-health-expenditure-as-percent-of-gdp-since-1960/
Healthcare outcomes by country - Commonwealth Fund (2017)
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/press-release/2017/new-11-country-study-us-health-care-system-has-widest-gap-between-people-higher
BoltyBoy on Twitter
https://twitter.com/boltyboy
Matthew on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-holt-6b52/
The Health Care Blog
http://thehealthcareblog.com/
Health 2.0
https://health2con.com/
SMACK.health
https://www.smackhealth.com/
EP3 Foundation
https://www.ep3foundation.org/
[Casey sez: interesting looking initiative on data security and public health imma keep my eye on]
THIS WEEK’S RANT!
Speaking of spending like drunken sailors on healthcare, this week saw some hilarious fist fights over a report from the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank at George Mason University, that pearl-clutched over Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill in the Senate, exclaiming that Sanders’ plan would increase US healthcare spending by THIRTY TWO TRILLION DOLLARS OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS. Oh, the humanity!!
But … wait a minute.
We’re spending close to three and a half trillion a year right now, with costs predicted to increase in the next ten years by an average of 5.5% a year. Back of the napkin, simple arithmetic, that means that we’ll be spending close to FIFTY FIVE TRILLION bucks on healthcare in the next ten years with our current status quo payment model. So Bernie’s Big Idea looks like it could SAVE us almost TWENTY TRILLION BUCKS! And everybody would be covered.
So … LET’S DOOOOO EEEEET!
Oh, right, that’s a terrible idea. ‘Cause helping every American person be as healthy as possible is just a shitty idea, right?
‘Merica! It’s a wonderful country! Just don’t get sick!
Sponsor:
Danny van Leeuwen, also known as Health Hats - with his diverse and prolific health experience, Danny uses his multiple hats to empower people as they travel toward their best health. To join Danny on that best health journey visit his blog.
Music:
Movin’ On Up by Podington Bear
Podcast distribution rights:
Creative Commons 3.0 license
