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Healthcare Consumerism – a Global perspective. By Sowmya Viswanathan M.D. Regional Chief of Internal Medicine Southcoast Health Massachusetts. USA – current affairs. Basics about health insurances: Commercial plans Medicare - Federal Medicaid - State Managed care plans Exchanges.
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Healthcare Consumerism – a Global perspective By Sowmya Viswanathan M.D. Regional Chief of Internal Medicine Southcoast Health Massachusetts
USA – current affairs Basics about health insurances: • Commercial plans • Medicare - Federal • Medicaid - State • Managed care plans • Exchanges
The individual market is coming to the U.S.: Are we ready? Source: Health Research Institute, “Change the channel: Health insurance exchanges expand choice and competition,” July 2011
Market failureThanks to Debbie Gordon for sharing this slide
“The best health care in the world”? Source: 2012 Bloomberg Rankings, The World’s Healthiest Countries; World Health Organization, “World Health Statistics 2012” Kaiser Family Foundation Global Health Facts
Idea #1:Let consumers shop for health insurance 50% of Australians buy private individual health insurance (despite universal public coverage)
Idea #2: Informed financial consent: We need to bring it to the U.S. • Cost transparency in U.S. health care is almost non-existent • Estimating costs is hard • Costs vary depending on insurance negotiations • Consumers do not necessarily ask about costs… • …Or understand they are on the hook • Financial literacy is low • Informed financial consent could be part of the solution
Idea #3: Mandate health savings Every Singaporean worker has an individual “Medisave” account to use for certain health care services Medisave accounts for 1/3 of health care spending Average account balance SG$16,900 (~U.S. $15,000)
Repercussion : Medical Tourism • A “dud” or a “potential timebomb”? • Princeton health care economist Uwe Reinhardt put it, “the potential of doing to the US health care system what the Japanese auto industry did to American carmakers.” • Do they compete in Price, Quality and Access? • Packaging? Products? Sounds like manufacturing or retail.
Reverse Engineering • How do we allude to this in concept of medical tourism? • What has Boeing, Lowes and Wal-Mart done to US healthcare industry?
How Can I help you? • If Air Travel worked Like HealthCare!!