Peter Boumgarden
, professor of practice, strategy and organizations at Olin Business School, and Andrew Schuette, audiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Is health care a right or a privilege? That question dominates our thinking about U.S. health policy and often shapes critical political choices. Unfortunately, it also prevents an honest discussion about the trade-offs in health coverage. If you believe health care is a right, how do we pay for universal health care? If you view health care as a privilege, what happens to the millions of uninsured Americans?
Take the Medicare for All bill (S. 1804) introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Its primary benefit is universal health coverage without any direct cost to individuals. This would be an incredible achievement, especially for the nearly 30 million uninsured individuals in the U.S., whose lack of coverage leads to approximately 45,000 deaths a year.
Even for Americans with health insurance, the system needs reform. The past five years have seen premiums double and deductibles increase 40 percent. Many health insurance plans have narrow insurance networks that cover only a limited number of providers and hospitals. These often add more costs in emergencies, especially when the closest hospital is outside the network. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2017 economic well-being report, nearly half of Americans have less than $400 in savings, making the high cost of health care even more problematic.
Read the full piece in Stat News.