Healthcare in 2020

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 14:18

Healthcare in 2020

Written by Scott LaMar, Director of Radio Smart Talk

Radio Smart Talk for Wednesday, February 1:

The only sure way to reduce healthcare costs is to use the system less. So says Steve Jacob, the author of the new book Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits, Too Few Doctors, and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us. Jacob writes that much of the blame for the increasing costs of healthcare can be placed on American lifestyles that include smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, poor diet and binge drinking.

Jacob will appear on Wednesday's Radio Smart Talk to discuss what impact the ''Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act'' or reform will have on healthcare, whether the law will survive and will it matter if it doesn't.

Jacob says 20 cents of every dollar will be spent on healthcare over the next 10 years and unless big changes occur, there won't be enough doctors or nurses to provide care.

It is not a pretty picture Jacob describes. Tune in to learn more about this thought provoking topic.

Read Steve Jacob's blog.

Learn more about the Affordable Care Act (reform law):

Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Healthcare.gov

The Commonwealth Fund: Health Reform Resouce Center

LISTEN TO PROGRAM:

Published in Smart Talk

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comments

# Sarah 2012-02-01 10:19

I understand the idea behind raising insurance deductables and how that change will cause people to live healthier lives. However, when one begins to live a healthier life, there is always the chance for exercise injuries. Running, hiking, biking, etc all has the potential injury-factor. If deductables are raised, this will backfire, possibly, on those who are active and need healthcare due to active lives.

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:36

You're right, Sarah. People with deductibles are 3-4 times more likely to delay or forgo care, compared to people with traditional plans. However, the alternative is to increase the risk of chronic conditions, which are far more costly and can lead to a diminished quality of life.

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# Bruce 2012-02-01 10:35

With the incredible political and economic power of health insurance companies, Pharmaceutical companies, AMA, Device manufacturers and health care systems - what event or series of events will be required to get the attention of the AMERICAN PEOPLE to truly re-shape our health car system

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:39

Unfortunately, more people are going to suffer financial difficulties because of medical circumstances before significant change happens. In plain language, not enough people are suffering yet for politicians to exercise the political will to reform the system.

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# Jeanne Duffy 2012-02-01 10:45

Please comment on the role of for-profit insurance companies in driving up insurance costs. The high administrative costs (including marketing, high CEO salaries, PR, etc.) are driving up costs as well. Also, the costs of such a varied system of insurers with different coverage rules, etc., drive up the administrative costs for the doctors' offices and hospitals. Of all industrialized countries, the U.S. spends by far the most of every health care costs on administration (not on actual health care). We need universal health care not run by insurance companies. They are a major part of the cost problem. A single-payer system is desperately needed.

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:43

Excessive administrative costs are a far greater problem than insurance company profits. There are several kinds of universal health-care systems in other industrialized nations. Key reasons why care costs less is lower administrative costs and the negotiating power of a single entity representing all payers.

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# Karen 2012-02-01 10:59

Can your guest comment on what type of system he believes works best to promote more personal responsibility, both medically as well as fiscally.

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:47

That would be difficult, Karen, because each nation's system has strengths and weaknesses. Personal responsibility is more of a cultural artifact than a health-care system flaw. Personal health behavior is hard to change and few people do so for financial reasons.

Steve Jacob, MPH, MA, MSBA
Adjunct Professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center
Author of Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits,
Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us
http://unitedstatesofhealth.com/

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# Steve 2012-02-01 11:09

while I agree single payer system sounds good, there is some evidence that it is not all it's cracked up to be. ie Many citizens in the United Kingdom DO buy there own private insurance. (and in other Euro countries)take the time to do some reading, try Google news UK healthcare news for starters, it can be an eye opener. And yes I have been to London where there are now fee for service practices just like our own! Single payer may drive price down But may drag quality down with it. buyer beware..

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# Jill 2012-02-01 11:09

As a nurse continually startled @ our populaion demands for very expensive healthcare, thank you so much for this program. I have to agree for having a period of time to pay for all your own healthcare to really understand what you are asking of our current system. It is expensive, particularly end of life care, prescriptions, tests/labs, & specialists. I will listen with great interest today and again tonight. Thank you!

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# Bee 2012-02-01 11:10

What is the concensus in Mass about the success of the health care system?
Re a previous caller, why are we so resistant to a national mandate?

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:50

Bee,the people in Massachusetts love health reform. I consistently polls well among the state's residents, despite rising costs and access problems.

Steve Jacob, MPH, MA, MSBA
Adjunct Professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center
Author of Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits,
Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us
http://unitedstatesofhealth.com/

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# Kelly 2012-02-01 11:11

Can the guest comment on DR. Campbell’s book ‘the China Study’, where he states that a plant based diet eradicates disease vs. an animal based diet.

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# Dayna 2012-02-01 11:12

Does Jacob discuss the effect that fat-shaming by the medical community has on fat people? Thankfully it hasn't happened to me, but I've heard firsthand from many fat people that they will not go to the doctor until their symptoms become un...bearable as previous medical professionals have told them the treatment for whatever ails them is to lose weight.

Weight loss is not the answer in many circumstances. Lower back pain may be caused by kidney infections or ovarian cysts, not fat. Joint pain might be caused from running too much, not being fat. Fatigue might be caused by a malfunctioning thyroid. Doctors and other medical professionals who only look at a person's size to judge them are contributing to high medical costs and should receive sensitivity training as a start.

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:53

Dayna, I wrote about this in my book. Obese and overweight people are stigmatized by the health-care system, as well as society as a whole. It's a shame because it usually backfires. They avoid going to the doctor because they don't want to hear another lecture.

Steve Jacob, MPH, MA, MSBA
Adjunct Professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center
Author of Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits,
Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us
http://unitedstatesofhealth.com/

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# Robert Colgan 2012-02-01 11:24

I called in to the show.

Let me reiterate what I said, phrasing it slightly differently:

healthcare, the delivery of medicine in the form of exams, testing, therapy (drugs, diet, hospitalization , surgery, et al) generates more than a 1/6th of the economy in the USA.
If everyone were suddenly to become healthy, stop hurting one another, carefully avoid accidents---a huge portion of the economy would go belly up.

It behooves everyone who makes money from the sickness of others to have a clientele who are sick.
Thus, ways are crafted --some subtle, some blatant-- to keep people sick.

The dirty truth behind the insurance corporations, the AMA, and Big PHRMA is that the more people there are who are sick, the healthier their profits: in cahoots with agribusiness, the food industry, through advertising and marketing these groups continue to advocate for lifestyle choices that are more likely to create illness.

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# Scott LaMar 2012-02-01 11:41

Thank you to everyone who called or write or listened to today's program. There were many topics like chronic disease and pharmaceuticals that we didn't get to. Steve Jacob has agreed to appear on Radio Smart Talk again soon to address those other issues.

In the meantime, be sure to take a look at the links above for more information about the Affordable Care Act.

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# Alan D. Cato MD 2012-02-01 13:34

Overutilization of the system is certainly a problem. As stated in The Medical Profession Is Dead and the Doctor is “Critically ill!”---- 'In the regions of high medical expenditure, patients received more frequent tests, procedures, specialty consultations, and more frequent admissions to hospitals, simply because the service was available---yet fared no better in their overall outcomes, or in personal satisfaction with their care, than patients in regions who accessed care less, and spent much less.------ In other words, it appears that much of the high cost of our health care delivery in the USA, compared to similar sized industrialized nations, is due to overutilization , especially the indiscriminate overuse of terribly expensive high-tech imaging and other expensive diagnostic studies.’ ---Alan D.Cato MD, F.A.A.F.P. (retired), and author of The Medical Profession Is Dead and the Doctor Is “Critically ill!” (Oct., 2010) Amazon Books.com

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# Steve Jacob 2012-02-02 14:55

I agree totally with Dr. Cato. Technology, and its overuse, is the key driver of U.S. health-care costs. Nothing else is even close.

Steve Jacob, MPH, MA, MSBA
Adjunct Professor, University of North Texas Health Science Center
Author of Health Care in 2020: Where Uncertain Reform, Bad Habits,
Too Few Doctors and Skyrocketing Costs Are Taking Us
http://unitedstatesofhealth.com/

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