Consumer Focused Health

Congratulations to new Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.  We saw health care concerns drive the election of a Republican in the bluest of states.

Yet, most people want health care to be reformed…its not that we don’t want change…its that the current approach to ObamaCare looks to lock out change and lock in an insurance model that people can neither comprehend nor afford nor trust.  As Albert Einstein once remarked, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So what is the right model for health reform?  My humble suggestion is that our nation yearns for Health Assurance, not just Health Insurance.  What does that mean?

A system designed around Health Assurance is designed to minimize the disruption and pain of illness through a strong focus on prevention while also improving wellness through a drive to improve everyday abilities and function. The specific priorities for a Health Assurance System are to, over a person’s lifetime optimize their Vitality.  The objectives of such a system would be:

1) Care for you when Seriously Ill

• Provide best practice care
• Provide financial support
• Return you to full physical and mental function where possible

2) Manage Chronic Illness

• Provide comprehensive program to address disease across medical and non-medical concerns
• Reverse disease where possible. If not possible, slow progression.
• Actively work to achieve best outcomes in affordable way with minimal inconvenience/ easiest approach to engage
• Monitor disease progression and intervene where outcomes impacted

3) Prevent Illness

• Understand your risk profile and priorities
• Create an action plan to reduce the most addressable risks in a cost effective manner
• Educate and Engage you in risk reduction

4) Enhance Wellness

• Understand your functional health and priorities
• Create an action plan to improve the highest priority functions
• Engage you in Wellness activities
• Introduce you to interesting Wellness resources and communities

My definition of health reform would be the move to a Health Assurance system as defined above.  What do you think?  I’ll follow up shortly with thoughts on what the specific elements of that system would be…and how this would look different from the insurance model centered in sick care and procedures that we utilize today.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Prevention is Not Only Good Health Policy, It’s Good Economic Policy (thehealthcareblog.com)
• Healthcare reform or “sick care” reform? (edkimmd.blogspot.com)
• Good Primary Care (distractible.org)
• Massachusetts to Determine Health Care Reform? How Fitting. (alankatz.wordpress.com)
• Pelosi: Mass. Election Won’t Stop Health Bill (prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Private health insurers charge more to give you less. (slate.com)