Jeff Kanter is the co-founder of HealthExcellencePlus.com, which provides a holistic approach to healthcare and wellness. They help individuals and groups including small entrepreneurs save money on medical expenses, everyday needs and wellness solutions.
They "MPower" their members to choose their own doctors, healthcare professionals and allow for alternative solutions by educating, communicating and creating community around all aspects of health and wellness so you can make the best decisions for you and choose the healthiest lifestyle that suits your needs.
Ed’s Questions
What is healthexcellenceplus.com and your role in it?
The people most supportive of your initiatives have been doctors, is that right?
The healthcare system was broken long before the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care), is that true?
Where did it start? Was it with wage & price controls in World War II that brought us employer-provided health insurance?
Large companies are reluctant to alter their health insurance because it will cause turnover?
There’s been an increase in on-demand workers (the “gig economy”), and I would think that would create a larger pool of individuals that will need what you’re offering?
If you want to stump your doctor, don’t ask him a medical question. Ask him the price of something.
The number of people who work in a medical office who don’t provide medical care is amazing, sometimes 2 to 3 to 1.
Most healthcare is not done on the free market, since there is no real price transparency. It’s all tied back to Medicare prices isn’t it?
Now that we’ve depressed our audience, and diagnosed the problem, what’s the prescription to get ourselves out of this mess?
Most of our audience is small business, or sole proprietors in the USA, what are some things they should be looking for?
What do I get when I get to www.healthexcellenceplus.com?
Tell us about how one of your organizations is dabbling with its own cryptocurrency.
Do you think that the more people do this, the more government will have to pivot and open up the healthcare market to more patient choice?
The only way it could be stopped is if we moved to a single-payer system, right?
Ron’s Questions
Employer-provided health insurance locks people into their jobs. We don’t get our auto, home or other insurance from them, why should we get our health insurance from our jobs. We could reform this pretty easy, and make the health insurance companies compete for one customer at a time. Wouldn’t that be a better system?
There would be more variety and choice in policies with more competition.
How do you deal with the fact that we really don’t have health insurance in the actuarial sense, we have pre-paid health care. We buy insurance we don’t want, but when it comes to health insurance, we want $5 co-pays, free drugs, etc. That’s not insurance is it?
Mandatory benefits also raise the price of the plans, because they are trying to fit everyone into a one-size-fits-all plan.
I asked my dad’s hip replacement surgeon how much it was going to cost my dad. It did, indeed, stump him. He had no idea. Could you imagine if you were in a Lexus dealership and got that answer you’d walk out. Why do we tolerate this lack of price transparency in such an important industry?
I know it’s not a perfect analogy, but if the health care sector ran like the hotel industry, there would be price points attempting to cover every customer need, based on what they can afford. But the objection is that not everyone would get the same quality care. How do you deal with that objection?
It’s a good point that reputation is more important than regulation. Perhaps a better analogy is the airline industry. It’s life and death as well, and they offer many price points.
You mentioned the price of an MRI. But if you have insurance, and get an MRI, you receive the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) statement that shows a $5,000 price, but that’s not what the insurance company actually pays the hospital. They won’t disclose what they actually pay because they consider it a trade secret. It’s lunacy, isn’t it?
Look at outfits like LabCorp, they offer very reasonable prices, since they are competing for the customer one at a time, and offer price transparency.
You mentioned cryptocurrency, have you selected one yet? (yes: www.organictoken.info)
Along with the cryptocurrency, you also mentioned blockchain. How do you see this technology unfolding in the medical world?
You also mentioned Direct Primary Care physicians. Do you know how many are out there now?
I actually read Milton Friedman’s PhD thesis, a study of five difference occupations. He railed against licensure for them because it kept prices high. Do you think we could do away medical licensure?
When you look at medical services that are provided on the free market, where the patient is spending their own money, such as with plastic surgery, Lazik surgery, and even veterinarian medicine. Those prices have been coming down. Wouldn’t the same thing happen if the consumer was spending their own money?
You’re going to be at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas, July 11-14, 2018?