Policymakers know healthcare spending must be addressed if the nation's economy is to improve. Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota said leadership is the main ingredient required for making the quantum changes needed to improve the healthcare system.
Policymakers know healthcare spending must be addressed if the nation's economy is to improve. Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota said leadership is the main ingredient required for making the quantum changes to improve the healthcare system.
"If we don't fix this in the next five or seven years, it's going to take down our ability to function as a government," he said.
He outspokenly recommends a full repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The federal government is limiting options, regulating the system's framework to the point of stifling innovation, and taxing Americans all the more, he said.
"Repeal the whole thing and start over," he said. "Twenty years from now, it will be viewed as one of the worst mistakes in the country."
Sooner than that, the healthcare system will be completely bankrupt, and it continues to drain the nation's economy, further increasing the debt. Overall, the federal government is spending $40,000 per second that it doesn't have, he said.
He also indicated that a new healthcare policy proposal will be introduced this summer that will include preservation of Medicare for current beneficiaries, plus new options for future enrollees. The new options will also be coupled with incentives to drive those on Medicare toward the most cost-effective choices. Payment reform that moves away from volume-based reimbursement and toward outcomes-based reimbursement will be included, he said.
While PPACA contains some market-based initiatives, he believes they're not going to be effective.
"Exchanges will have no discernable impact on cost," he said. "We have an exchange, and it's called the market. This is America. It's not Europe."
FDA Approves First At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Device
May 15th 2025Self-collected samples to test for cervical cancer are a step in the right direction when it comes to addressing healthcare barriers, according to Rahma S. Mkuu, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine.
Read More
Conversations With Perry and Friends: Paul Fronstin, Ph.D.
May 9th 2025Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial advisory board, is host of the Conversations with Perry and Friends podcast. In this episode, his guest is Paul Fronstin, Ph.D., director of health benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Listen
Conversations With Perry and Friends
April 14th 2025Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial advisory board, is host of the Conversations with Perry and Friends podcast. His guest this episode is John Baackes, the former CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan.
Listen
The First Financial Toxicity Tumor Board Reports Success in Individual Patient Savings
May 14th 2025Financial toxicity can affect patient outcomes and quality of life. For example, a patient may forgo treatment or medications to save money, or they may incur high medical debt or go into bankruptcy to pay for medical care.
Read More