A healthcare revolution is brewing among employers, consultants, providers, PBM’s, Clinics, and even Retailers. It’s an exciting time for the industry, one that has slowly evolved the last 75+ years.
How did we get here?
- Employer-sponsored healthcare spawned from wage freeze in 1942 as a means to “boosting” compensation while avoiding income and payroll taxes.
- In 1973 Congress passed the Health Maintenance Organization Act to combat cost and improve quality of care.
- 2000’s: High Deductible Health Plans gain momentum with employers increasingly passing on cost to employees
- From the early beginnings with Teddy Roosevelt to now, there has been a constant government effort to nationalize care, ultimately culminating with the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
- Consistent throughout? A focus on cost-containment. Yet it continues as a foreign concept many employers and employees struggle to embrace.
Fast Forward
In 2010, Howard Schultz stated Starbucks spends more on healthcare than coffee beans. It was an epiphany of sorts as Schultz gave light to the unbelievable cost of care but also how the expense could impact culture with his refusal to cut benefits.
Fast forward 8 years, through the fog of the ACA, mandates, Rx/PBM evolution, technological advances, an aging generation of Baby Boomers, and what do we have? A revolution taking off via new entrants thinking differently, seeking control, and motivated to disrupt. We’ve existed in a red ocean for some time now, but have renewed vigor as leaders seek their blue ocean for this antiquated yet vital industry.
First there were consultants leading the way with different approaches to financing healthcare, as well as the true value of cost-containment. Then there were the captives empowering the mid-sized employer to band together, share their Stop Loss risk, and take control by self-funding safely.
Now, we have disruptors materializing within the medical community via a movement towards Clinics and Direct Primary Care. Essentially traveling back in time to deliver personable, thoughtful, unbiased care.
And now a spotlight shines on the industry via Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan’s partnership to address health, cost, and utilization within their population.
The most recent entrant? Apple with their launch of AC Wellness and announcement they’ll open health clinics for employees.
The overriding themes? Break the traditional insurance mold, think differently about how you finance care, and take control of your health. The only way we contain costs is by understanding what things cost, by taking control of what we are prescribed, and by proactively focusing on our health.
If we could just get on board with Thomas Edison’s prophecy from 1902:
The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.
Providing Peace of Mind Through Proactive Service
Deland, Gibson: a Trusted Choice, Five Star Accredited independent insurance agency. Established in Massachusetts in 1900, Deland, Gibson is a 4th generation family-run insurance agency that has thrived working as a trusted advisor for its client base. We work with individuals and businesses to lower their Total Cost of Risk. We analyze a client’s direct and indirect costs and implement risk reduction plans to address areas of business, hazard, or strategic risk.
