The Commonwealth Fund’s most recent Mirror, Mirror report ranking eleven industrialized countries’ healthcare systems along key metrics, shows that the US system has a long way to go before it can deliver high-quality, cost efficient – and, most troubling, timely – care.[i] In light of the latest statistics regarding the surge of new enrollees in both Medicaid and private insurance plans due to the ACA, the inability of the US healthcare system to deliver care at the time that it is needed poses both a problem, and an opportunity, for providers.
The Rand Corporation estimated that during the approximately six months between the September 2013 start of enrollment under ACA and early March 2014, there was a net gain of 9.3 million adult Americans enrolled in either public or private plans – this translates into a decline from 20.5% to 15.5% in the share of American adults who are uninsured.[ii] These newly insured Americans will bring additional pressure to bear on the US healthcare system as they seek out primary care – which is already having trouble meeting current demand – and specialty care, especially in rural and socio-economically disadvantaged sections of the country. While opinions vary on how to meet this challenge, it is clear that a re-thinking of how to provide quality care at an affordable price will require a re-thinking of the entire paradigm for delivering healthcare – resource allocation, technology opportunities and advances, workforce and infrastructure planning, and how we treat illness – everything will be on the table.
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[i] https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror
[ii] https://www.rand.org/blog/2014/04/survey-estimates-net-gain-of-9-3-million-american-adults.html