What’s Getting Lost in the Health Care Debate?
Health care has never been more highly politicized than today.
Last year, it was central to the third longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This week, it consumed a large chunk of President Obama’s State of the Union address. Every day, we are inundated by news of health exchange website defects, insurance policy cancellations, coverage that forces people to switch doctors, and a laundry list of other problems attributed to the Affordable Care Act. On the flip side, advocates complain of the problems that make the U.S. rank among the lowest in health system efficiency among advanced economies and hail the health care law as a ray of hope.
Jamie Elizabeth Rosen
Meanwhile, a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that one in four American families struggled to pay medical bills in 2012. Pretty dismal.
But there’s something missing from this barrage of coverage. Incredible advances are being made in health care every day, providing Americans with innovative ways to stay healthy, treat illnesses when they arise, and save money on medical problems. Just this month, a new program was launched to help people on Medicare living with multiple sclerosis afford copays for treatment; the FDA for the first time approved a postnatal test that can help parents identify possible causes of their child’s developmental delay or intellectual disability; and a study published in the Lancet showed that it is possible to train children’s immune systems to become less sensitive to peanuts.
At Real World Health Care, we focus on what is working.
That’s why I am proud to take over this week as editor of Real World Health Care. While much of my professional focus has been on health internationally – advocating for the development of vaccines to prevent tuberculosis, policies that save mothers and infants from dying during childbirth, and the formation of emergency medical systems in places where people have nowhere to turn – I am compelled by the notion that more attention must be focused on solutions that are improving U.S. patient care today. By serving as a central clearinghouse for information about improvements to segments of the U.S. health care system, we hope that our readers and those journalists who get ideas from our blog will be inspired to expand innovations that are working in health care today.
Real World Health Care – only entering its 11th month – already has a reputation for covering solutions to enhance nutrition, prevent diseases, reform medical education, improve hospitals, support patients, fund research, increase treatment adherence, and reduce costs. The blog serves as a resource for policy makers, health systems, research universities, non-profit health organizations, leading biopharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and the nation’s leading health journalists among thousands of others interested in practical and well-researched health care success stories.
We need your help to continue to grow our success. Have an idea for a story or a guest blog? Email me at jrosen@WHITECOATstrategies.com. Want to take part in advancing solutions in health care? Sign up for updates and share stories that inspire you via Twitter at https://twitter.com/RWHCblog. Do you believe in our mission to expedite improvements to our health care system? Consider co-sponsoring the blog while gaining visibility for your organization. We are now followed by over 300 health industry leaders each week, and journalists turn to us for story ideas about the good news on what’s working in our health care system. For more information, email dsheon@WHITECOATstrategies.com.
I look forward to continuing to cut through the political vitriol around health care with inspiring stories of what is keeping Americans healthy and saving lives. Thank you for giving meaning to our work by using this blog as a resource for yours.