Fixing Healthcare: Can We Go Where The Government Hasn’t?

Several years ago, Congress created the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a nonpartisan initiative designed to highlight the changes ordinary Americans want to see in the US health system.  Over a period of 18 months, the Group reached out to ordinary people online and in-person.  Here’s what the Working Group recommended to Congress:

-Americans should have access to high-quality, affordable care – i.e., some type of universal coverage, although they couldn’t agree on what this should look like

-The US should mandate a “set of core health care services” that include preventive and wellness services – guaranteed for all

-Health benefits should be “portable and independent of health status, working status, age, income or other categorical factors” (i.e., no one should be denied services because they have a pre-existing condition)

-Guarantee financial protection against catastrophic medical crises

-Develop integrated health networks

This is a comprehensive list, but there is one area that the Working Group did not significantly address: consumers’ participation in the health system.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post on this blog, policymakers from both major political parties are putting more pressure on ordinary Americans to take more control of their health.  In addition, as new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates, many with chronic conditions (or those caring for them) are struggling to find good, understandable information about medical care online.  People don’t want to be forced to think about their health unless it is absolutely necessary, but the powers that be are forcing them to. 

What do you think?  Can we go beyond the government’s efforts?  We can, if we suggest implementable, affordable recommendations that will address this pressing need.

To read the full set of the Working Group’s recommendations, please click here.