US Healthcare

Before the Revolutionary War, residents of the North American colonies were subjects of the British crown. They were entitled to as much or as little as the aristocracy allowed. Their living conditions and daily activities were dictated by the government. They paid whatever taxes were arbitrarily imposed by the crown. In 1776, the founding fathers rejected such centralized control and replaced it with a structure that gave primacy-freedom-to the individual. The new Americans were free to make their own choices. They were free to reap the benefits of their decisions and their work. They were entitled to nothing, except opportunity. The policies advocated by current contenders for the Democrat presidential nomination, exemplified by Senator Bernie Sanders, repudiate what the founding fathers did in 1776. Is that really what Americans want? Read More: Fixing US Healthcare You can see Related Article on LinkedIn:  Choose Your Healthcare Visit Deane Waldman for more informati

After describing machine and complex adaptive systems, we define a thinking system with two unique, defining characteristics: having goal(s) separate from survival and the capability to innovate purposefully. Thinking systems always learn and are the only systems that can structure their own learning. Healthcare is a paradigm of a thinking system and is repeatedly plagued with unintended, adverse outcomes particularly after fixes that fail. Systems thinking can dissolve such dysfunction in healthcare and by extension in any thinking system. Specific recommendations follow from this rationale. In the broadest sense, the thesis of this article is that our society must move beyond the industrial revolution and embrace the implications of living in an information age.  Unfortunately, our mental models, organizational structures and management philosophies are shackled by Newtonian (linear) ideation, assembly line mentality, as well as hierarchical, command-and-control attitudes. Most

Obamacare. The American Health Care Act . The Emergency Medical Transport and Labor Act. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Health Insurance Marketplaces (now called exchanges.) The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. Medicare. Patient-centric healthcare. The Unfunded Mandate Reform Act. These are some of the ways that Washington has "fixed" our healthcare system. Other than failure, they have one other attribute in common: they're Washington-generated, Washington-in-control. For more than 50 years, the federal government has dominated healthcare using a military command-and-control model. To use a medical analogy, Washington has been the attending physician for a sick patient named healthcare for decades. With all the "treatments" imposed by the doctor-federal government, healthcare has become sicker and sicker, and sicker. Spending on healthcare has more than tripled, rising from 5 percent of GDP in 1960 to 17.8 percent

Predictions of cost savings through ObamaCare, like most liberal politics, were based on magical thinking. If they want something to be true with sufficiently intensity, liberals know it must be true. Small children are natural magical thinkers. Ask any psychologist, pediatrician, or parent. Magical thinkers believe that because they want it or can conceive of it, "it" is so, or will be so. The magically thinking child ties a cape on his back and knows that with it on, he can fly. When he jumps off the roof, he will, of course, fall, not soar like Superman. The usual cure for magical thinking is tincture of time, and evidence. People in Congress and in the White House, though not always physically small, behave just like children: They depend on magical thinking. Because they say it and want “it” badly enough, "it" will be. If you ever wondered how our “people” in Washington come up with their ridiculous ideas and turn them into laws, here is your answer.