Justin Foster Unfiltered

Yesterday's passage of the House's Health Care Reform bill and the above article were the catalysts for this observation:

Where innovation goes, affordability follows.

I have some fundamental philosophical reasons for not supporting the recent legislation. Chiefly, I view the government's involvement in our lives as accepting that mediocrity is the highest level we can achieve. There are also issues related to the constitutionality of dramatically increasing government's role in health care. Finally, when is the last time that the government was able to solve a problem better than the free market?

But that's not what this post is about. This post is about innovation - or the lack thereof.

Innovation has always been at the forefront of medical advances. This has lead to curing diseases, extending life, and many other advancements that were unheard of just 75 years ago. And, yes, there has been some government involvement in this area - primarily through grants and tax credits.

However, there has been little to no innovation on how we PAY for medicine. We consumers have been trained that the issue is coverage, not the causes that require needing insurance in the first place. In short, it has been the accepted norm that unhealthy behavior is ok as long as there is a way to pay for it. As such, we end up with no innovation on a payment method ... thus the ensuing skyrocketing costs. This especially applies to behavioral driven issues such obesity and its many side effects.

Not coincidentally, elective items such as plastic surgery and Lasik have seen a dramatic drop in price. Primarily because they were exposed to the free markets.

Another way to look at it is that insurance companies have created a "corporate socialism" model. For years, the government has colluded with insurance companies (and providers) through regulation (no portability, pre-existing condition clauses, etc) and by not addressing the core issue. That is why President's Obama's claims about insurance company "greed" are disingenuous. Insurance company profits are on the lower end of the scale, plus they are going to receive millions of new customers under his plan. The bottom line: there is lack of innovation on payment models because there is no incentive to do so.

What the Fast Company article lays-out is extremely innovative ... and it will work if there is motive for innovation. However, with the government dramatically increasing their presence in our lives, where is the motivation for innovation? We can damn insurance companies for their lack of innovation, but do we expect the government to be any more innovative? Without that, the future of health care is simply social with an "ism" at the end.