For decades, the debate around health care has centered on access. No question access to health care is important. But this focus has ignored — and come at the expense of — topics that are much more important, namely quality and price.
In the video below, Robert Graboyes, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, argues that to get the health care debate out of its rut, we need a new goal: “To produce better health for more people at lower cost, year after year.”
To achieve major cost reductions and quality improvements, a frontier mentality characterized by risk tolerance and competition must be encouraged in the health care industry. This outlook has allowed the tech sector, for instance, to achieve not only unthinkable breakthroughs in quality but also major reductions in cost.
What’s more, in 25 years we’ve gained near-universal access to information technology. In short, access, quality, and cost are not mutually exclusive goals; they can be achieved in unison as a result of entrepreneurialism.
Perhaps the best part? No legislation or politicking is necessary!