Newsletters
Let's All Blast the PPACA; August, 2010
Next month the first wave of changes resulting from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform) kick in. For the foreseeable future, we will be experiencing a restructuring of how health care works in this country. The roles of everyone involved will be changing.
With the elections coming in November, PPACA is a prime target for some to capitalize on the general population’s confusion with the complexity of the legislation and the reality that health care costs are going to continue to increase over the near term. The talking points we’ve seen of the Democrats are designed to not “oversell” the cost savings, the benefits, or even the purpose and intent of the legislation. Nobody seems to be embracing PPACA so don’t expect the rest of the population to embrace it either.
In his weekly “Health Care Reform Memo,” Paul Keckley, Executive Director for the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions tried to address “Who are the winners and losers in the reform bill?” He stated, “There will be winners and losers in each sector. Organizations that are adaptive to change, innovative in strategy and execution, and willing to take risk will survive and thrive.”1 Those that don’t, he contends, will fail. He feels there will be winners and losers with the health plans, hospitals, drug companies, medical device manufacturers, long-term care provider, and the provider/physician segments. Those organizations willing to adjust and look for the opportunities will win- and others will lose. Time will tell who the winners and losers will be.
He neglected to mention the winners and losers in the most important segment. He failed to mention anything about the winners and losers of the American consumer- the real reason we needed change in the first place. While consumers are certainly a necessary commodity for all of the segments- it seems each segment continues to look out for itself when determining whether it “wins or loses” in this new landscape.
It’s time participants in today’s health care system start looking beyond individual needs and self-interest and start to look collectively at what is good for the health care system overall. Whether we like PPACA or not, health care costs remain one of the biggest economic challenges facing our country today. Our success in reforming the mess we have today has implications for almost every citizen. They will be the biggest winners or losers of all.
