Healthcare Fix: Allow New Ideas

Hannah Wolf  0:03  
Welcome to Healthcare Policy pop. I'm Hannah Wolf. It's Thursday, November 2, 2023.

Today's pop topics healthcare disruption, everyone seems to agree that our current healthcare system fails patients. But how do we make a path for others with new ideas to get involved? Jonathan Weiss is the founder and CEO of Health Engine, a dynamic marketplace for healthcare services. We asked Weiss if he thought there was a level playing field for new entrepreneurs or ideas to enter the marketplace and change things. Here's what he said: 

Jonathan Weiss  0:41  
Quite frankly not, unless those [they are in] the benefit of the special interests. I always laugh people say patients first or serving patients, but almost every business model is designed to further the financial interests or the efficiency which, you know, translates to financial interests of the deep pockets, the incumbents. 

Hannah Wolf  1:06  
Weiss tells us when his company tried to get into the Medicare and Medicaid arena, it should have taken two or three months. Instead, it took two years. So what are the barriers companies are facing? 

Jonathan Weiss  1:20  
Not many, or most new startups have that resolve or even the financial resources to go in. The problem is these regulators. There's regulatory captures, we know they often go to the fox and ask what do you think about guarding the henhouse? Because these are attorneys that are passing through their public sectors, civic, you know, employment, and they're also looking at K Street and maybe being hired by the same special interests once they're gone, as we've seen with many cases. 

Weiss says a simple look at the numbers proves the current system isn't working. You've got to ask yourself, What does all the new and shiny things mean? If they're not even promoting better health, America should be the healthiest country in the world. And this is even subtracting out for the gun violence. You know, the rates of obesity, most countries in Europe smoke and even Asia more than we do and that's an anchor on them, but they're still doing better. 

Hannah Wolf  2:23  
Weiss says the big question is how do we solve it? Along with transparency, Weiss says allowing disruptors with good ideas to get in competition, open it up this new policy of competing, CMS being allowed to have competition rather than a guaranteed sort of price floor or the non negotiation exclusion? Again, this is counter to a marketplace and what America is all about.

You can learn more about Weiss and Health Engine by using the link in the show notes.

Finally, today, Congresswoman Annette Berrigan and Terry Wilcox Patients Rising CEO have authored an op ed in the hill. The piece highlights the access to innovative treatments act and how it could help families in the fight against Alzheimer's. We have the full op ed linked in the show notes. That's all for today. We're back on Tuesday for another Health Care Policy Pop a resource a Patient's Rising Now. I'm Hannah Wolf, have a great day.