Greg Scandlen: Consumers Need To Take The Reigns Of The Health System

In November 2007, I had the pleasure of meeting Greg Scandlen, president and chief executive officer of Consumers for Health Care Choices (CHCC).  His organization pushes for free-market solutions to our current healthcare crisis.  CHCC is a supporter of ChangeNow4Health (CN4H) and has published an article focusing on why consumer-directed plans are working.  (You can view it on the main CN4H Website.)   

For Scandlen, there are no sacred cows in the health industry. He is equally critical of all the major players, especially government and managed care organizations.  In a fiery interview published earlier this week in the Baltimore Sun, he had a lot to say about why our system is broken and why consumers should be in the driver’s seat.  Following are a few excerpts of the interview that I found particularly interesting.

On Why Consumer-Directed Health Plans Are A Success

Observers have noted that consumer-directed health plans are being adopted a slower rate than expected. Scandlen disagrees saying:

“I don't think that is true at all. [The plans] are growing faster than I or anyone I know expected. Harvard Professor Regina Herzlinger says the adoption rate is faster than any other benefit innovation of our lifetimes - faster than HMOs, faster than IRAs, faster than 401(k)s. They've been around for only four years and already have something like 15 percent of the market.”

Why Employer-Based Insurance Will Never Die

Employers have a real interest in seeing that their workers are covered. But employers are likely to offer employees a much wider range of choices of their coverage. Plus, workers whose employers do not provide coverage should not be disadvantaged on the tax treatment of their coverage.

Why Consumers Need To Act Like Health Dollars Are Theirs

“[T]he wrong people control the money.  Every penny spent on health care comes from us as citizens. It is simply passed through to insurance companies in the form of premiums, employers in the form of lost wages and government in the form of taxes.

We were willing to let them control our money because we thought they would do a good job of managing it. But they haven't.”

Learn More

To learn more about Scandlen’s opinions, please click here.  Agree, disagree?  Feel free to leave your comments below.  I’ll be sure to pass them on to Scandlen.