Neil Versal, writing in MedCity News, asks healthcare players to stop talking about their alleged devotion to “quality” when they fail deliver it in America’s mediocre but astronomically expensive medical system.
Among his remarks:
“During the fractious debate prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, we heard from supporters about how opening up insurance coverage to more Americans would finally give millions of people access to quality care. We also heard from detractors that Obamacare would destroy the ‘greatest healthcare in the world.”’
“Both camps, of course, were wrong. Having insurance only means that someone else will pick up part of the tab, not that the care would be of high quality. And the United States certainly has had nothing close to the greatest healthcare in the world, just the most expensive.”
“Here’s the thing: Healthcare wasn’t so great before the ACA, and it remains not so great now. Yes, spending is up, but the rate of growth has slowed from a decade ago, though some of that might have been due to people putting off elective care in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
“And repealing the entire ACA without a replacement also would do away with numerous payment reforms that have made healthcare at least somewhat better. It would be terrible for patients — not to mention, fiscally irresponsible — if Medicare would have to resume paying hospitals for avoidable complications that result in readmissions.
“So, let’s stop talking about ‘quality’ as if it already is the norm in American healthcare, and let’s stop pining for the good old days.
