Friday, October 23, 2009

Civitas Healthcare Redux

I wrote my first post on health-care nearly 2 years ago. The fact is that I was just beginning to understand the complexity of the United States' health-care problem. Just when I think I have my opinion, there is a new facet of the problem exposed.

For example, the insurance industry has taken a beating as a major villain contributing to our current health-care problem. Though I never thought that industry acted with naked malevolence, their business orientation has a different goal than providing health care services. I'll admit that I suspected some profiteering on the woes of the sick. But a podcast this weekend about the role of contract negotiations between health care insurance companies and health care provider conglomerates highlighted the ascendant role of the provider conglomerates in negotiations about care price contracts. The podcast used a real example of an appendectomy that in one part of California costs $1500, but in another would cost more than $10,000. The reason: different price contracts.

The previous example is meant to highlight just how complicated American health-care is. It has given me pause and an opportunity to rethink some of my assumptions about the nature of our problems and their potential solutions.

I do know one thing: no solution will emerge from the simple exchange of "Socialist!" from one side of the issue and "heartless Capitalist!" from the other. I'll try an experiment the next time I am engaged on this topic: instead of offering my opinion, I'll try to understand my partner's view of the situation and solution.