Health-care spending increased by 4.6 percent in 2019, after growing 4.7 percent in 2018, according to an analysis published in Health Affairs, a health-policy journal. The nation spent $3.8 trillion on health care in 2019, accounting for 17.7 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, compared with 17.6 percent in 2018.
“Haven” seems now to have been more of a PR stunt, than an actual serious attempt at creating new healthcare infrastructure and MO. At least for JP Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway….but Amazon has pressed forward with healthcare investments and rollouts. Perhaps the takeaway is that healthcare is both a local bottom up reality, as well as a giant corporate or government top down structure, and that means it’s hard to envision what will work to maximize innovation in the field.
The US healthcare system is, if you will, a huge ball of aggregated systems and methods over a century in the making, that creates enormous inefficiencies. At $3.8 Trillion in costs, even small improvements would mean huge savings. No matter how we structure healthcare, it’s going to continue to be a huge part of the US economy, with large numbers employed in the field. But, for example, much of the “back office” of doctors, clinics, hospitals and insurance companies is way overdue to be replaced by electronic data processing.
In person Doctor visits are also subject to reduction by online health “visits”, as common during the pandemic. New medications and surgery robots and powerful digital diagnosis capabilities, suggest healthcare can improve in capability without dramatic cost increases, much as all digital tech gains capability according to Moores’ law. But alas, not just yet, as Big Pharma, for one example, continues to have its way with exorbitant prices for medications sold in the US.
Haven healthcare startup backed by Amazon, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway shuts down - The Washington Post