By Paul Breslau, Breslau Insurance & Benefits Inc.
The important issue of opioid addiction is front page news. We all are advocates for finding solutions to this problem for our neighbors and communities.
I would like to take this concept a step further by stating that I am a believer that our society is addicted, in general, to medical treatments and inefficient, expensive health care. Furthermore, until we go through a multi-step program to overcome this addiction our communities are in for challenging times. Admitting that our society is addicted is step one and we should continue reinforcing this acknowledgement. Public budgets, private companies, non-profits, and most individual people are adversely impacted.
Evidence of the Addiction
Evidence of the societal addiction includes the fact that US Health Care Spending is approaching 20% of our Gross Domestic Product. Also, the largest employer in many states, cities, and towns is the health care industry. For example, in 2016 the Arizona Republic named Banner Health as our state’s largest employer.
My fellow agents and I are intimately involved in business and family health care costs. The premiums become more prohibitive each year. Simultaneously deductibles and copays increase to amounts that cause significant personal financial difficulty and provide barriers to people that truly need healthcare. “The good news is you’re alive, the bad news is you can’t afford it” from my first Airpark News article in the November 2004 issue becomes more relevant each year.
In my opinion insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital companies combine with government to make the big four of societal medical addiction causes. They make health care complicated, opaque, inefficient, and expensive. Random 2016 revenue illustrations of the vast resources consumed include;
1. UnitedHealthcare $185 billion revenue; Aetna’s $63 billion; BlueCross of Arizona $1.6 billion.
2. Pharmaceutical revenues for McKesson $170 billion, Express Scripts $160 billion, CVS $170 billion, Johnson & Johnson $72 billion, Roche $50 billion, Pfizer $53.
3. Banner Hospitals reported revenue of $7.6 billion.
4. For 2018 the Arizona AHCCCS budget request update is $1.45 billion.
Root causes include the way taxes, insurance, laws, litigation, etc. are structured.
Capitalism and free enterprise are fundamental to our economy and we are not against revenues and profits. New treatments and pharmaceuticals are expensive and must continue to be developed. However, how can we as governments, businesses, and people continue to afford this? We need an Amazon or Tesla breakout to start turning the medical addiction ocean liner. Concurrently we need thousands of entrepreneurial initiatives to start eating the medical addiction elephant one bite at a time.
Ineffective Solutions
Most solutions thus far have been ineffective including pre-Obamacare, Obamacare, and Trumpcare or whatever comes next. Also, insurance company focus on Short Term Health and GAP polices are helpful to many people but they do not address long-term improvement. Democrats and Republicans are not working together on a national or state level. This is not right and cannot help bring effective solutions. The idea of letting current health systems fail will hurt government, the private sector and families. Finally, not providing needed medical treatments for the elderly, infants, and all people is wrong. Will we be able to address the root causes?
Airpark Fundamental Fix
As you may know from my prior articles there is an Airpark business called Redirect Health that is focused on fundamental fixes. The concepts they promote are examples of the continuous improvement that will start positive solutions for every government, non-profit, and business. A portion of these concepts include;
1. Promote transparency of medical treatments and costs.
2. Actively direct people to the right care at the right price.
3. Avoid administrative expenses and waste.
4. Recommend incremental actions toward healthy lifestyles.
5. Get to know people and treat them respectfully.
6. Simplify all aspects of health care and make information transparent.
7. Remove the insurance company from health care equation as much as possible.
8. Use GoodRx and other online resources to control costs.
9. Focus on the small percentage of people with high medical cost utilizations so that dollar allocations are not squeezed from routine care and family treatments.
To learn more please consult with your health insurance agent or contact David Slepak, Director of Business Development at 480-747-1621.
Agent Initiated Solutions
Having represented hundreds of Arizona employers over the last 20 years I know that this addiction intervention will continue as a David verses Goliath war. Winning little battles may start turning the tide in a war that may sink us all. There are ongoing initiatives from Aetna, BlueCross, Health Net, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare, and many others in health insurance that may continue to catch hold. Banner, HonorHealth, Dignity Health and other hospital systems also continue to experiment with new approaches and solutions.
Here are some leading-edge agents that I recommend and partner with. They are in the vanguard of coordinating the best solutions for healthcare and benefits. Please contact your own health insurance agent or reach out directly to these professionals;
Mid-sized Businesses = Amy Shuckhart, 602-741-8500 www.AmalynConsulting.com
Hispanic Employees = Gloria Guerra, 602 740-8607, www.BilingualHRSolutions.com
Small Businesses = Kelly Clarke, 602 318-9337, www.ClarkeInsuranceAZ.com
Northern Arizona = Ed Gussio, 928 853-1706, www.BenefitLogic.net
Metro Phoenix = Tom Richards, 602 859-1377, www.TrekInsuranceGroup.com
Self-funded = Mike Whitehouse, 480 857-9464 www.BenefitSpecialistsAZ.com
Voluntary Benefits = Noah Oropeza, 623-760-8780 www.ColonialLifeAZ.com
In Conclusion
These articles are short and the issues in health care and medical costs are huge. Please accept my apology for the superficial treatment of extremely complex and confounding problems.
My partners and I are available to discuss in greater detail by phone or in person. This may improve the situation for your business in 2018. As always, your questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. Please take a minute and reach out.
Paul Breslau, Registered Health Underwriter (RHU), Registered Employee Benefit Consultant (REBC), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), Chartered Advisor for Senior Living (CASL), is President of Breslau Insurance & Benefits Inc. Contact: 602-692-6832; www.HRaz.com; Paul@HRaz.com.