We will never reform or improve our system of paying for health care as long as policy wonks are in charge of the debate.
There is no shortage of talk about how to make improvements. Some of it — for example the approach advocated by former Gov. John Kitzhaber — makes a good deal of sense. But these ideas never seem to get anywhere. And now we have a clearer idea why.
A recent edition of Brainstorm magazine contains an essay by Mark Ganz, the head of the Regence Group health insurance group in Portland.
He argues that the only way to reform the system is to make a “significant shift in our health care culture.” The current culture, he maintains, spawns an “entitlement mentality among every stakeholder, which leads to an unsustainable level of resource consumption and spiraling costs that ultimately push people out of the system.”
Mr. Ganza is part of an effort to shift the debate. It’s called the Aspen Health Stewardship Project. Among the things he says the project team will do:
- “Identify specific areas in the health care system where the culture of control is highly pervasive and develop specific actions for countering that control model. We will also determine how broader cultural norms affect the strategic and cultural fit of any reform proposal.
- “Frame the health care reform debate on the right terms: Outline the fundamental areas any serious reform proposal must address to create a sustainable economic and care model that will best serve our country ... .”
