Saw an interesting poster in a subway station as I was on a train. It whizzed by so I didn't see the name of the brand. But what it said was that for $79.99 per month you could purchase healthcare with unlimited doctor visits, coverage of standard procedures (Gyn, electro cardiograms, colonoscopy, etc.) and discounts on prescriptions, and no copay.
But was interesting to me is that it said: "This is not INSURANCE." And that somehow struck me. When we think about healthcare as insurance, we naturally think about reacting to an incident, not preventative maintenance. We think about fault and liability, not compassion and treatment. We think it as something that is optional, a hedge, not something people have a right to. We think about it as a money matter, not a life matter with all the pain, profound limitation and fundamental fear associated with it.
Framing the conversation is key. The words we use have both subtle and overt consequences to the ideas we are thinking about, like renaming the estate tax the "death tax."
Take a step back. What we are really purchasing is healthcare, not insurance. How does that affect the way you think the industry should work?
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