Lack of competition and systemic inefficiencies in healthcare have led to higher costs. Of all the proposals on the table, a single-payer system (“Medicare for all”) would most completely address these issues, but it may politically be unviable and there will inevitably be a rocky transition period.
Angel Maredia • Healthcare, explained by someone who knows nothing about it
ARRA defined that a substantial portion ($20 billion) of the money set aside by Congress to stimulate the United States economy after the financial and foreclosure crisis would go to doctors and hospitals who “meaningfully use” clinical software.
David Uhlman • Hacking Healthcare: A Guide to Standards, Workflows, and Meaningful Use
As a result, the Canadian health system now relies on a patchwork of provincial plans, population-specific federal plans, private supplemental insurance plans, and out-of-pocket payments to cover outpatient pharmaceuticals and other services not deemed medically necessary.
Ezekiel J Emanuel • Which Country Has the World's Best Health Care?
lower costs. Everyone wins: the individual diabetic gets better care, the provider gets paid more for providing that care, and the system as a whole pays less for the treatment of that particular diabetic. All of this is made possible by a highly capable EHR system.
David Uhlman • Hacking Healthcare: A Guide to Standards, Workflows, and Meaningful Use
The key to making that happen, however, is to push more of the financial risk associated with patient care away from insurers (or the government) and onto hospitals, doctors, and other providers. Needless to say, the latter are unlikely to accept that increased risk willingly.
Martin Ford • Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future
There is almost complete consensus that this sort of healthcare system would reduce overall costs in the long term while still providing high quality insurance. This happens because a single-payer system: